Skip to main content

We will keep fighting for all libraries - stand with us!

Full text of "The life of Henry, third earl of Southampton. Shakespeare's patron"

See other formats 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF 

CALIFORNIA 

IRVINE 


58 
S7 


The  Life  of 

Henry,  Third  Earl  of  Southampton, 
Shakespeare's  Patron 


CAMBRIDGE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 

C.  F.  CLAY,  MANAGER 
LONDON  :  FETTER  LANE,  E.C.  4 


NEWYORK  :  THE  MACMILLAN  CO. 

BOMBAY      ) 

CALCUTTA^  MACMILLAN  AND  CO.,  LTD. 

MADRAS     J 

TORONTO  :  THE  MACMILLAN   CO. 

OF  CANADA,  LTD. 
TOKYO :  MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA 


ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED 


The  Life  of 

Henry,  Third  Earl  of  Southampton, 
Shakespeare's  Patron 


BY 


CHARLOTTE  CARMICHAEL  STOPES 

Author  of  The  Bacon-Shakespeare  Question  Answered,  British 
Freeivomen,  Shakespeare's  Family,  Shakespeare's  Warwickshire 
Contemporaries,  William  Hunnis  and  the  Revels  of  the  Chapel 
Royal,  Burbage  and  Shakespeare's  Stage,  Shakespeare's  Environ- 
ment, Shakespeare's  Industry,  Editor  of  Shakespeare's  Sonnets,  etc. 


CAMBRIDGE 

AT  THE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 
1922 


PREFACE 

IT  would  have  been  more  correct  to  have  called  this  volume  a 
collection  of  materials  towards  a  Life.  For  anything  approaching  a 
real  life  can  only  be  written  by  the  subject  himself,  by  an  intimate 
friend,  such  as  Fulke  Greville  was  to  Philip  Sidney,  or  by  one  who 
has  the  command  of  a  long  series  of  private  letters,  heart-revealing 
writings,  and  contemporary  information,  such  as  Spedding  had  of 
Francis  Bacon.  Southampton  kept  no  diaries,  he  did  not  pour  forth 
his  heart  readily  in  effusive  letters,  he  wrote  no  signed  poems  or 
papers,  and  few  of  his  correspondents  kept  his  epistles.  The  best  that 
could  be  done  was  to  arrange  the  facts  concerning  him  in  chrono- 
logical order  and  set  these  in  his  natural  surroundings,  so  that  the 
work  at  best  gives  but  a  mosaic  with  many  lacunae.  I  have  not 
attempted  to  fill  in  the  blanks  as  if  with  oil  colours  to  make  a 
complete  "portrait";  I  have  attempted  no  oratory  to  move  the 
feelings  of  others  to  judge  him  as  I  do.  It  is  "but  a  plain  blunt 
tale,"  but  it  was  necessary  to  tell  it  as  a  background  to  that  of 
Shakespeare  and  to  help  forward  the  writing  of  the  Life  of  the 
Earl  of  Essex,  which  awaits  some  eager  student. 

From  a  plain  statement  of  facts,  however,  we  may  sometimes 
secure  legitimate  inferences.  Hence  I  dwelt,  some  may  think  unduly, 
on  his  work  in  the  Virginia  Company.  We  find  him  there,  always 
in  the  van,  among  all  his  anxieties.  A  troublesome  minority  made 
so  much  noise  that  the  king  crushed  it  "because  of  the  disagreement 
among  themselves,"  but  Southampton  could  have  pulled  it  through 
had  he  been  let  alone.  And  from  what  we  know  of  his  actions  there, 
we  may  argue  back  to  the  other  "brawls"  with  which  he  has  been 
credited,  feeling  sure  he  would  always  be  on  the  side  which  he 
thought  was  right. 

I  must  confess  that  I  did  not  start  this  work  for  his  sake,  but  in 
the  hope  that  I  might  find  more  about  Shakespeare,  which  hope 
has  not  been  satisfied.  In  my  earlier  Shakespearean  work,  of 
course,  I  had  read  Drake,  Malone,  Gerald  Massey,  and  Halliwell- 
Phillipps,  and  had  collected  a  few  new  facts,  but  the  person  who 
impelled  me  to  do  this  work  in  a  thorough  way  was  Mr  Thomas 
Tylor.  He  first  brought  out  the  hypothesis  which  has  been  called 


vi  PREFACE 

"the  Herbert-Fitton  theory"  in  a  paper  read  at  a  meeting  of  the 
New  Shakespeare  Society  in  1 890.  Everybody  present  (which  does 
not  mean  all  the  members  of  the  society)  was  in  sympathetic  ad- 
miration of  such  a  neatly  fitted  group  of  interesting  facts,  supposed 
to  be  connected  with  each  other,  and  they  all,  including  Dr  Furni- 
vall,  accepted  it.  As  I  said  good-bye  to  Mr  Tylor,  I  said  "  I  hope  I 
may  live  long  enough  to  be  able  to  contradict  you!"  "No,  you 
won't,  for  my  theory  is  going  down  Time!"  "Not  if  I  live  long 
enough,"  said  I,  in  full  faith  that  evidence  must  be  forthcoming  to 
confute  a  theory  so  injurious  to  the  good  name  of  Shakespeare. 
Another  relevant  incident  which  I  must  relate  happened  some  time 
afterwards  (I  forget  how  long).  A  small  portrait,  asserted  to  be  con- 
temporary, of  the  3rd  Earl  of  Pembroke  had  been  offered  to  the 
then-existing  holder  of  the  title,  for  sale  at  a  reasonable  price.  On 
the  back  a  slip  of  paper  was  pasted  containing  the  quotation  from 
Sonnet  LXXXI: 

Your  monument  shall  be  my  gentle  verse 
Which  [eyes  not  yet  created  shall  o'er -read]. 

The  Earl  of  Pembroke  invited  certain  leaders  in  art,  literature,  and 
criticism  to  meet  at  his  house  and  give  him  their  opinion.  Dr 
Furnivall,  having  a  card  for  himself  and  friend,  took  me  as  his 
"friend."  The  portrait  was  handed  round,  examined,  and  accepted 
by  all  as  genuine  and  worth  buying.  It  was  handed  round  for  a 
second  time,  in  regard  to  the  inscription.  I  do  not  remember  the 
remarks  made.  I  was  last,  and  when  it  reached  me  I  said,  "The 
ink  which  wrote  that  was  made  in  1832!"  thinking  of  the  publica- 
tion of  Boaden's  theory.  This  caused  a  commotion;  Dr  Furnivall 
laughingly  cried  "  I  forgot !  Turn  her  out,  turn  her  out.  She  is  a 
Southamptonite.  We  are  all  Pembrochians  here!"  This  made  me 
go  on  all  the  more  eagerly  in  my  research  and  attempts  to  convert 
Dr  Furnivall,  which  I  eventually  did,  chiefly  through  two  articles  in 
The  Athenaum,  March,  1898,  on  "The  Date  of  the  Sonnets,"  and 
another  in  August,  1900,  "Who  was  Mr  W.  H.?" 

In  the  collection  of  my  materials  I  have  many  to  thank.  The 
officers  of  the  British  Museum  and  the  Record  Office  have  been 
unfailingly  helpful  and  considerately  patient  with  my  troublesome 
enquiries.  The  Librarians  of  the  Bodleian  have  been  as  good, 
though  I  troubled  them  on  fewer  occasions. 


PREFACE  vii 

I  have  to  thank  the  Marquis  of  Salisbury  for  courteously  allowing 
me  to  see  his  historical  manuscripts,  and  his  private  secretary,  Mr 
Gunton,  who  generously  aided  me  in  my  search;  the  Duke  of 
Portland  for  leave  to  include  the  Welbeck  Abbey  portraits;  the 
Walpole  Society  for  the  loan  of  blocks  used  in  the  article  on 
Wriothesley  Portraits,  by  Mr  R.  W.  Goulding,  in  their  eighth 
volume;  also  Mrs  Holman  Hunt  for  the  copyright  of  her 
treasured  "Rubens  portrait"  of  the  Earl  of  Southampton.  The  Rev. 
Mr  Matthews,  formerly  of  Titch field  Church,  not  only  admitted 
me  to  the  Registers,  but  laid  all  his  notes  and  photographs  out  before 
me  that  I  might  choose.  Thanks  are  also  due  to  Captain  Charles 
Cottrell- Dormer  of  Rousham,  Oxfordshire,  for  allowing  me  to 
spend  a  whole  day  among  his  manuscripts  and  to  transcribe  those 
concerning  the  Countess  of  Southampton.  The  Town  Clerk  of 
Southampton  also  cheerfully  opened  his  Town-books,  and  Mr  Chitty 
and  Mr  Jaggard  sent  me  notes  from  Winchester.  I  have  also  to  thank 
Mr  R.  F.  Scott,  Master  of  St  John's  College,  Cambridge,  for  telling 
me  where  Thomas,  the  second  son  (and  heir)  of  Southampton,  was 
born,  for  the  reprints  of  his  articles  in  The  Eagle^  and  for  permission 
to  use  the  College  portrait  of  the  Earl.  Mr  Previte  Orton,  the 
Librarian  of  the  College,  and  his  assistant  were  most  kind  to  me 
in  trying  to  solve  the  puzzles  of  the  donation  of  books  to  the 
Library. 


CHARLOTTE  CARMICHAEL  STOPES. 


HAMPSTEAD, 

April  z^rd,  1921. 


HINTS  TO  READERS 

1.  All  MSS.  not  referred  to  any  other  collection  are  to  be  found 
in  the  British  Museum. 

2.  All  legal  cases,  State  Papers,  etc.,  are  in  the  Public  Record 
Office. 

3.  All  wills,  unless  otherwise  noted,  are  in  Somerset  House. 

4.  P.C.C.  means  Prerogative  Court  of  Canterbury;  P.C.R.,  the 
Privy  Council  Register;  L.C.,  Lord  Chamberlain's  Papers. 

5.  The  Cecil  Papers  and  Salisbury  Papers  are  the  same,  all  being 
at  Hatfield.   But  the  former  are  the  originals,  the  latter  the  printed 
Calendars,  where  the  same  articles  appear  as  abstracts  in  greater  or 
less  degree. 

Before  1906  I  did  my  work  at  Hatfield,  where  I  have  secured 
many  originals,  some  of  which,  however,  have  been  contracted  by 
Mr  Gunton  or  myself.  Several  volumes  of  the  Calendar  have 
come  out  since  then;  hence  occasionally  I  give  both  references. 

6.  Many  statements  could  have  been  referred  back  to  several 
sources,  but  as  I  have  lost  so  much  of  my  work  through  the  failure 
of  my  eyes  and  their  inability  to  read  even  my  own  writing  in 
pencil  (which  is  used  compulsorily  in  the  Record  Office),  I  have 
been  unable  to  check  various  authorities,  and  have  been  forced  to 
be  contented  occasionally  with  the  one  I  could  best  secure. 

7.  My  work  strives  to  be  accurate,  above  all  things,  but  where, 
through  long  study  and  logical  inference,  I  have  used  my  imagina- 
tion to  fill  up  gaps,  I  always  putsuch  suggestions  in  large  parentheses, 
to  shew  that  I  am  aware  that  these  passages  contain  an  element  of 
uncertainty,  and  are  frequently  controversial. 

8.  The  limits  of  space  have  prevented  my  including  many  minor 
facts  and  allusions  to  the  3rd  Earl  of  Southampton  and  his  friends, 
as  of  course,  I  had  to  choose  for  publication  the  most  significant. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

PREFACE         .         .         .         .  .  .:  .  ,       v 

CHAP.      HINTS  TO  READERS          .       .  ,  **.  .  .      viii 

I  LORD  WRIOTHESLEY'S  INFANCY  .  .  i 

II  THE  BOYHOOD  OF  THE  EARL  7 

III  THE  EARL'S  FIRST  ASSOCIATION  WITH  ST  JOHN'S 

COLLEGE,  CAMBRIDGE  .         .  .24 

IV  PROPOSALS  FOR  MARRIAGE        .         .         .        '.34 

V  THE  PATRON -49 

VI       THE  EARL'S  MAJORITY 62 

VII  CAUSES  OF  GOSSIP  .  >        .         .         .       79 

VIII  SEA  DREAMS  AND  ACTIONS,  1596-7  .         .         .       96 
IX       THE  Two  COUNTESSES  OF  SOUTHAMPTON  .         .114 

X  THE  IRISH  CAMPAIGN     .         .         .         .         .139 

XI  THE  QUARREL  BETWEEN  LORD  GREY  OF  WIL- 

TON AND  THE  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON,  1 599- 
1604          ,        '.         *         .         .         .         .163 

XII  THE  PERILS  OF  "CONTEMPT,"  1599-1600         .     172 

XIII  THE  CONSPIRACY,  1600-1        .         .         .         .186 

XIV  JUDGMENTS    .         .         .         .         ...     206 

XV  CLEARING  UP  ..;...     223 

XVI  A  LAMPOON  OF  THE  DAY,  1601        .         .         .     235 

XVII  THE  PASSING  OF  THE  TUDORS  .         .         .     243 

XVIII  THE  COMING  OF  THE  KING      .         .        -.         .     255 
XIX     FESTIVITIES,  1604-5        .         .         .         .         .     279 

XX      THE  FIFTH  OF  NOVEMBER  299 


x  CONTENTS 

CHAP.  PAGE 

XXI      "SOME  TO  DISCOVER  ISLANDS  FAR  AWAY"  .         .314 

XXII    THE  OCCURRENTS  IN  ENGLAND         .         .         .  334 

XXIII  A  NOBLE  GIFT  TO  ST  JOHN'S  COLLEGE  LIBRARY  356 

XXIV  A  LONG  PROGRESS           .                  ...  377 

XXV  WORK  IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  LORDS        .         .         .  397 

XXVI  "VIRGINIA  BRITANNICA"          .         .         .         .416 

XXVII  THE  FIFTY-SECOND  YEAR        ....  447 

XXVIII  "HENCE  THESE  TEARS"    .....  461 
XXIX    THE  HEIR  OF  ALL           .                  .         .         .  473 

ADDENDA 

I  THE  PATERNAL  ANCESTORS  ....  485 

II  THE  MATERNAL  ANCESTORS          .         .         .  487 

III  THE  SECOND  EARL  AND  COUNTESS  OF  SOUTH- 

AMPTON     .......  499 

IV  SOUTHAMPTON'S  CONTEMPORARIES  IN  ST  JOHN'S 

COLLEGE,  CAMBRIDGE       .         .         .         .  528 

NOTE  TO  CHAPTER  XXI         .'..'.          .          .  529 

INDEX                    .         .         .         ....         .         .  530 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

THE  SOUTHAMPTON  MONUMENT,  TITCHFIELD 

CHURCH         ......       TO  FACE  PAGE     6 

THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON  AS  A  BOY       .          „        16 
(From  the  monument  in  Titchfield  Church) 

THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON  IN  A  SUIT  OF 

WHITE,  WITH  ARMOUR     .....          ,,94 
(At  Welbeck  Abbey) 

ELIZABETH  VERNON,  MAID  OF  HONOUR  TO  QUEEN 

ELIZABETH    .         .         .         .         .         .         .          ,,114 

(At  Hodnet  Hall) 

THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON,  WHILE  A 

PRISONER  IN  THE  TOWER         ....          „      252 

(At  Welbeck  Abbey) 

THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON  IN  HIS  PRIME  „      362 

(Attributed  to  Rubens;  Mrs  Holman-Hunt's  collection) 

ELIZABETH  VERNON,  COUNTESS  OF  SOUTHAMPTON.  „      378 

(At  Welbeck  Abbey) 

THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON    .         .  „      449 

(At  St  John's  College,  Cambridge) 


CHAPTER  I 

LORD  WRIOTHESLEY'S  INFANCY1 

HENRY,  LORD  WRIOTHESLEY,  second  of  the  Christian  name  and 
third  of  the  title,  came  as  the  Son  of  Consolation  to  his  parents  on  the 
6th  of  October,  1573.  His  father,  the  second  Earl  of  Southampton, 
a  noted  recusant,  had  suffered  much  discomfort  and  a  very  severe 
illness  through  his  imprisonment  in  the  Tower  for  the  matter  of 
the  Duke  of  Norfolk.  His  mother  Mary,  daughter  of  Sir  Anthony 
Browne,  first  Viscount  Montague,  had  suffered  nearly  as  much, 
through  her  intense  sympathy,  constant  anxiety,  and  never-resting 
efforts  on  his  behalf  to  move  the  Queen  to  mercy.  At  last  the 
tide  turned  in  his  favour.  On  the  ist  of  May,  1573,  Southampton 
was  allowed  to  go  forth  from  the  Tower  to  the  comparatively  com- 
fortable house  of  Sir  William  More  in  Loseley,  where  he  had  pre- 
viously been  detained.  There  he  still  fretted  against  captivity,  and  his 
petitions  were  strengthened  by  Sir  William  More,  who  found  the 
office  of  jailor  incompatible  with  his  other  public  duties.  In  July 
the  disconsolate  Earl  was  suddenly  permitted  to  rejoin  his  wife  and 
friends,  under  the  hospitable  roof  of  his  father-in-law,  where  he  was 
subject  to  no  further  supervision  than  that  of  Lord  Montague,  and 
was  permitted  even  to  go  and  see  his  building  operations  at  Dogmars- 
field2,  if  he  made  sure  he  never  spent  more  than  one  night  out  of 
Cowdray.  The  kindness  of  Lady  More  to  the  captive  had  roused  the 
gratitude  of  Lady  Southampton,  and  the  relations  of  Sir  William 
More  to  his  charge  had  always  been  friendly.  Thus  it  was  first  to 
Loseley  that  the  great  news  went  forth  post,  on  the  6th  of  October, 
"  Yt  has  so  hapned  by  the  sudden  seizing  of  my  wife  today,  we  could 
not  by  possibility  have  your  wife  present,  as  we  desired.  Yet  have  I 
thought  goode  to  imparte  unto  you  such  comforte  as  God  hath  sente 
me  after  all  my  longe  troubles,  which  is  that  this  present  morning 
at  three  of  the  clock,  my  wife  was  delivered  of  a  goodly  boy  (God 
bless  him.)... Yf  your  wife  will  take  the  paynes  to  visit  her,  we  shall 
be  mighty  glad  of  her  company.  From  Cowdray  this  present  Tuesday 
1  As  to  ancestral  matters,  see  also  Addenda.  *  Loseley  Papers,  iv.  16. 
s.  s.  i 


2         THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON    [CH. 

1573.  Your  assured  frend  H.  Southampton."1  Thus  was  the  only 
son2  of  the  second  Earl  of  Southampton  born,  not  at  Titch field,  but 
at  Cowdray,  the  house  of  his  mother's  people.  This  "goodly  boy" 
was  the  first  grandson  born  to  the  Viscount  Montague,  and  it  is 
certain  that  he  had  as  much  attention  and  care  as  was  good  for  him. 
Besides  all  that  the  loving  care  of  his  mother  could  shower  upon 
him,  there  was  the  experience  of  her  stepmother,  the  Viscountess 
Montague3,  a  notable  authority  in  the  bringing  up  of  children.  It  is 
strange  that  there  has  been  preserved  no  record  of  his  baptism.  He 
must  have  been  "made  a  Christian"  in  a  much  more  modest  way 
than  his  father  was,  who  had  a  King  and  a  Queen  as  sponsors;  but 
there  appears  to  be  no  later  allusion  to  the  godparents  of  the  young 
Lord.  It  must  be  taken  for  granted  that  the  ceremony  was  per- 
formed after  the  ritual  of  the  Catholic  church,  and  that  his  sponsors 
were  chosen  from  among  his  father's  friends,  rather  for  his  spiritual 
strengthening  than  his  worldly  advancement.  The  Registers  of 
Titch  field  for  that  period  are  not  extant.  We  know  very  little 
about  the  young  Lord's  childhood;  but  the  first  event  that  could 
have  at  all  affected  him  was  the  visit  of  his  parents  to  London. 
Whether  the  Earl  of  Southampton  had  been  summoned  to  Court 
to  be  admonished  and  finally  forgiven,  or  whether  he  had  received 
permission  to  visit  his  mother,  the  Lady  Jane,  we  know  not.  But 
we  know  that  he  went,  and  meant  to  make  it  a  happy  pilgrimage 
by  inviting  his  father-in-law  and  his  brother-in-law  to  accompany 
him,  probably  leaving  the  child,  at  that  early  age,  under  the  kind 
supervision  of  the  Viscountess  Montague.  He  wrote  to  Sir  William 
More,  " Although  I  have  lately  divers  wayes  pestered  your  howse 
yet  sins  your  request  is  so,  I  mynd,  God  willing,  with  my  wife,  to 
be  with  you  in  our  journey  towards  London  on  Tuesday  even 
sennight  and  my  brother  Anthony  Browne  and  his  wiffe  in  my 
company.  My  Lord  Montague  upon  this  occasion  is  not  coming, 
ist  November,  I573-"4  The  young  people  would  go  to  London 
together,  but  would  probably  separate  at  London  Bridge,  the 

1  Loseley  Papers,  iv.  18. 

1  It  has  always  been  said  he  was  "the  second  son,"  but  there  is  no 
authority  for  that.  The  error  must  have  begun  in  confusing  the  second  with 
the  first  Henry. 

3  See  her  Life  by  the  Rev.  Richard  Smith. 

4  Loseley  Papers,  iv.  21  and  x.  51. 


i]  LORD  WRIOTHESLEY'S  INFANCY  3 

Brownes  going  to  their  town  house,  St  Mary  Overies,  the 
Wriothesleys  to  Southampton  House  in  Holborn. 

Anthony  Browne  was  the  eldest  son  and  heir-apparent  of  Cow- 
dray  by  Viscount  Montague's  first  marriage  to  Jane,  daughter  of 
Robert,  Earl  of  Sussex,  and  he  was  the  only  full-brother  of  the  Lady 
Mary,  Countess  of  Southampton.  The  Southamptons  seem  to  have 
returned  and  spent  some  time  longer  at  Cowdray,  where,  four  months 
afterwards,  another  grandson  came  to  the  Viscount.  Anthony 
Browne  had  married,  the  year  before,  Mary,  the  daughter  of  Sir 
William  Dormer,  and  lived  in  Riverbank  House,  a  dwelling  which 
had  been  built  for  their  use  in  Cowdray  Park.  There  was  born  in 
March  1574  Anthony  Maria  Browne — afterwards  heir.  We  may 
imagine  the  meeting  of  the  two  babes,  when  the  new-comer  at 
Riverbank  was  first  brought  over  to  his  inheritance  at  Cowdray, 
their  staring  at  each  other  with  dim  sub-conscious  intelligence. 
The  Wriothesley  interloper  had  the  advantage  of  four  months,  a 
period  long  enough  to  instil  into  the  infant's  mind  a  sense  of  posses- 
sion and  a  scorn  of  new-comers  smaller  than  himself.  Four  months 
gives  a  great  precedence  in  the  first  year  of  life. 

I  have  been  able  to  find  only  two  MS.  references  to  the  Wrio- 
thesley baby  during  his  whole  childhood.  The  first  is  in  the  will  of 
his  grandmother,  the  Lady  Jane,  26th  July,  I5741.  By  it  she  left 
various  bequests  "to  my  Son's  son,  Harrye,  Lord  Wriothesley." 
That  gives  us  at  least  the  clue  to  his  baby-name,  and  a  reference  to 
his  baby  "expectations."  We  know  nothing,  except  by  its  results, 
of  the  child's  education  up  to  a  certain  date,  save  that  it  must  have 
been  equal  to  his  rank  and  conducted  on  strictly  Catholic  lines. 

The  other  allusion  to  the  child  is  made  in  relation  to  a  painful 
episode  in  the  family  history.  The  Earl  of  Southampton  was  taken 
into  favour  again  and  was  given  certain  county  offices  to  perform, 
which,  with  his  own  interests  in  house-building  and  farming,  seem 
to  have  placidly  filled  his  time.  He  and  his  wife  seem  to  have 
continued  on  affectionate  terms  until  about  1577,  and  then  some 
misunderstanding  arose,  fostered  by  constant  mischief-making 
through  the  Earl's  gentleman  servants,  the  chief  of  whom  was 
Thomas  Dymock.  The  Earl  secluded  himself  more  and  more 
among  his  followers  and  estranged  himself  from  his  wife;  he  would 

1  Martyn,  43. 

I — 2 


4    THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON  [CH. 

have  no  communication  with  her,  except  verbally  through  the 
servants  who  had  been  the  cause  of  the  continuance,  if  not  of  the 
initiation,  of  the  Earl's  bad  feeling.  The  friends  of  the  Countess 
became  anxious;  her  father  wrote  her  a  long  letter  asking  her  to 
explain  fully  her  position  and  confess  to  what  degree  she  was  to 
blame.  Unfortunately  that  letter  has  disappeared.  But  the  full  and 
frank  reply  of  the  poor  wife  has  been  preserved,  which  must  be 
read  in  full  to  be  understood  in  so  far  as  she  was  concerned.  The 
postscript  mentions  the  child1.  "That  yowr  Lordship  shalbe  witnes 
of  my  desier  to  wyn  my  Lorde  by  all  such  meanes  as  resteth  in  me, 
I  have  sent  yowe  what  I  sent  him  by  my  little  boye.  Butt  his  harte 
was  too  greate  to  bestowe  the  reading  of  it,  coming  from  me. 
Yett  will  I  do  my  parte  so  longe  as  I  am  with  him,  but  good  my 
Lorde,  procure  so  soone  as  conveniently  yowe  may,  some  end  to 
my  miserie  for  I  am  tyred  with  this  life."  It  is  to  be  regretted  that 
the  enclosed  letter  has  not  been  preserved. 

By  later  correspondence  we  learn  that  she  never  saw  her  boy 
again  during  the  life-time  of  his  father,  who  kept  him  with  himself 
and  his  servants. 

This  letter  forces  the  reader  to  sympathise  with  the  Countess,  to 
long  to  hear  how  the  Earl  could  explain  his  conduct,  and  to  wonder 
if  he  could  possibly  put  himself  in  the  right.  He  leaves  nothing 
further  than  his  will,  and  that  only  puts  him  still  further  in  the 
wrong.  It  is  dated  the  24th  of  June,  1581,  and  is  very  long2. 

In  it  he  describes  himself  as  in  "health  and  perfect  memory,'* 
though  its  contents  belie  this  statement,  for  they  shew  him  to  have 
disregarded  time,  place,  circumstances,  and  the  amount  available  to 
be  distributed.  The  uses  of  the  money  are  limited  by  an  indenture 
made  on  loth  May,  1568,  between  the  testator  and  the  Viscount 
Montague  and  others  deceased,  "  until  the  issue  male  of  the 
testator  should  come  to  the  age  of  21  years." 

One  thousand  pounds  were  to  be  devoted  to  monuments,  one  of 
his  father  and  mother  and  the  other  of  himself.  His  funeral  was 
not  to  cost  more  than  another  thousand.  A  liberal  allowance  to  the 
poor  was  to  be  paid  as  promptly  as  possible,  that  they  might  pray  for 
his  soul  and  the  souls  of  his  ancestors.  He  left  a  ring  to  the  Queen; 

1  Cotton  MS.,  Titus,  bk.  n.  art.  174,  f.  366. 

2  Rowe,  45. 


i]  LORD  WRIOTHESLEY'S  INFANCY  5 

"beseeching  her  to  be  good  to  my  little  infants,  whom  I  hope  to 
be  good  servants  and  subjects  of  her  Majesty  and  of  the  State."1  He 
left  liberal  allowances  to  servants  and  friends,  and  to  his  daughter 
Mary  £2000,  if  she  obeys  his  executors  and  does  not  live  in  the 
same  house  as  her  mother. 

As  an  afterthought,  he  remembered  the  father-in-law  to  whom 
he  owed  so  much,  by  leaving  him  a  George  and  a  Garter,  which 
could  not  have  been  his  own,  as  he  never  had  been  made  Knight 
of  the  Order,  and  it  could  not  have  been  his  father's,  as  the  first 
Earl  left  his  to  Sir  William  Pembroke.  He  left  as  executors  Charles 
Paget,  brother  to  Lord  Paget,  Edward  Gage  of  Bartley  Co.  Sussex, 
Gilberd  Wells  of  Brainebridge  Co.  Southampton,  Ralph  Hare, 
bencher  of  the  Inner  Temple,  and  "lastly  my  good  and  faithful 
servant  Thomas  Dymock,  Gent."  For  "overseers"  he  appointed 
"  Henry  Earl  Northumberland,  my  Lord  Thomas  Paget  and  my 
loving  brother  Thomas  Cornwallis." 

Of  course,  the  bulk  of  the  property  was  to  come  to  his  son  Henry. 
The  will  also  gives  information  as  to  his  relatives  on  his  father's 
side — his  sister  Katharine,  Lady  Cornwallis,  his  sister  Mabel 
Sandys,  his  aunts  Lawrence,  Pound,  and  Clerke,  his  cousin  John 
Savage,  son  of  Sir  John  Savage,  and  others. 

From  a  fulsome  panegyric  on  the  Earl  of  Southampton  by 
John  Phillipps,  called  an  "Epitaph,"2  we  learn  that  both  of  his 
children  were  with  him  at  the  last,  that  he  lovingly  blessed  them, 
and  that  they  wept  and  wailed  at  his  death.  The  account  was 
evidently  intended  to  pass  by  the  wife,  though  "In  wedlock  hee 
observed  the  vow  that  hee  had  made." 

The  Earl  of  Southampton  died  at  Itchell,  a  house  of  his  not  far 
from  Titchfield,  on  4th  October,  1581,  when  his  son  and  heir  was 
two  days  short  of  completing  his  eighth  year.  He  was  buried  on  3Oth 
November  in  Titchfield  Church  beside  his  mother  Jane,  the  first 
Countess  of  Southampton  of  that  creation. 

Little  public  notice  was  taken  of  his  departure.  Camden  even 
mistakes  the  year  in  which  he  died;  Dugdale  says,  "His  well 
wishes  towards  the  marriage  of  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  and  Mary 
Queen  of  Scots,  to  whom  and  to  whose  religion  he  stood  not  a  little 
affected,  occasioned  him  no  little  trouble."  Once  he  is  mentioned 
1  Addenda.  *  Huth  Ballads,  58. 


6       THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON   [CH.  i 

with  flattery  in  literature.  In  that  strange  book1  Honour  in  its 
perfection  the  notice  of  the  third  Earl  is  prefaced  by  an  account  of 
the  first  Earl,  his  grandfather.  "After  this  noble  Prince  succeeded 
his  sonne  Henry  Earle  of  Southampton,  a  man  of  no  lesse  vertue, 
promesse  and  wisedom,  ever  beloved  and  favoured  of  his  Prince, 
highly  reverenced  and  favoured  of  all  that  were  in  his  own  ranke, 
and  bravely  attended  and  served  by  the  best  gentlemen  of  those 
countries  wherein  he  lived;  his  muster  roll  never  consisted  of  foure 
lackeys  and  a  coachman,  but  of  a  whole  troupe  of  at  least  a  hundred 
well-mounted  gentlemen  and  yeomen.  He  was  not  known  in  the 
streets  by  guarded  liveries,  but  by  gold  chains,  not  by  painted 
butterflies  ever  runing  as  if  some  monster  pursued  them,  but  by 
tall  goodly  fellowes  that  kept  a  constant  pace,  both  to  guard  his 
person,  and  to  admit  any  man  to  their  Lord  which  had  serious 
business.  This  Prince  could  not  steale  or  drop  into  an  ignoble  place, 
neither  might  doe  anythinge  unworthy  of  his  great  calling,  for  he 
ever  had  a  world  of  testimonies  about  him.  When  it  pleased  the 
divine  goodnesse  to  take  to  his  mercy  this  great  Earle  he  left  behinde 
to  succeede  him  Henry  Earle  of  Southampton  his  sonne,  being  then 
a  child."2 

1  By  Gervase  Markham. 

2  The  Earl  of  Southampton  was  summoned  to  repair  the  roads  in  St 
Andrew's,  Holborn,  near  his  own  house  in  1578  (Coram  Rege  Roll,  Hilary 
20  Eliz.  f.  119)  and  1580.    The  summons  was  repeated  again  and  again  to 
his  heir  (Controlment  Rolls,  Trin.  22-23  Eliz.  f.  94,  et  seq.). 

A  later  reference  should  be  given  here  to  throw  some  light  upon  the 
beginning  of  Lady  Southampton's  troubles.  A  Catholic  in  Brussels,  writing 
to  a  friend,  warns  him  against  Charles  Paget,  who  is  still  "tampering  in 
broils  and  practices  between  friend  and  friend,  man  and  wife,  Prince  and 
Prince  ...  I  will  overpass  his  youthful  crimes,  as  the  unquietness  he  caused 
betwixt  the  late  Earl  of  Southampton  and  his  wife,  yet  living."  (D  S.S.P. 
Eliz.  CCLXXI.  74,  July  4-14,  1599,  et  seq.). 


PLATE   I 


THE  SOUTHAMPTON  MONUMENT,  TITCHFIELD  CHURCH 


CHAPTER  II 
THE  BOYHOOD  OF  THE  EARL 

IT  is  never  an  easy  thing  to  step  into  a  great  estate,  and  in  the 
sixteenth  century  the  difficulties  were  much  increased  for  those 
under  age.  Henry  Wriothesley,  the  third  Earl  of  Southampton, 
would  become  in  due  order  a  Royal  Ward;  but  the  Queen  would 
either  sell  his  Wardship  and  Marriage,  or  bestow  it  as  a  gift  on  some 
of  her  favourites.  It  was  probably  as  such  that  she  bestowed  it  on 
Lord  Charles  Howard,  Lord  High  Admiral. 

Then  began  arithmetical  calculations  of  an  abstruse  nature,  dull 
enough  for  readers  even  after  the  details  have  been  mastered,  but 
still  necessary  to  consider,  as  they  have  a  direct  bearing  on  the 
future  career  of  the  minor. 

It  is  a  little  difficult  to  estimate  the  true  character  of  the  Thomas 
Dymock  who  had  so  bewitched  his  master  that  he  was  practically 
left,  at  the  Earl's  death,  "the  man  in  possession."  He  might  have 
been  a  man  of  good  intentions,  confused  only  by  a  blind  devotion  to 
his  master  and  obedience  to  his  wishes,  instead  of  the  evil  spirit 
that  Lady  Southampton  and  others  described.  Whatever  he  really 
was,  he  took  the  first  step  towards  settlement.  Without  consulting 
his  fellow  executors,  Lord  Montague  the  next  of  kin,  or  Lord 
Paget  the  "overseer,"  he  set  off  alone  to  prove  the  will  in  which 
he  was  so  much  personally  concerned.  It  might  be  that  he  inno- 
cently needed  ready  money  to  keep  the  house  going,  to  prepare 
for  the  funeral,  and  to  pay  at  once  for  the  volumes  of  prayers 
necessary  to  free  his  master's  soul,  as  soon  as  possible,  from  pur- 
gatorial fires.  It  might  have  been,  on  the  other  side,  a  feverish 
haste  to  get  his  own  affairs  and  those  of  his  favourites  settled, 
for  he  knew  well  there  would  not  be  sufficient  assets  to  cover  all, 
for  years  to  come. 

It  was  a  good  lesson  for  him,  and  a  great  advantage  for  the 
other  legatees,  that  the  Registrar  in  Chief  then  refused  to  allow 
him  to  prove  the  will. 


8         THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON    [CH. 

The  widowed  lady  whom  he  had  so  deeply  wronged  had  at 
last  bestirred  herself  in  earnest.  She  was  no  longer  held  back  from 
publicity  by  the  lingering  ties  of  old  affection,  no  longer  afraid  to 
befoul  her  own  nest,  to  help  her  own  children.  She  had  no  fear  of 
fighting  the  "dead  hand"  which  tried  to  dominate  and  humiliate 
her. 

She  had  many  personal  friends;  so  had  her  father.  With  her 
acute  intelligence  the  Countess  saw  that  nothing  could  be  done  now 
for  herself,  but  that  a  very  great  deal  could  yet  be  done  for  her 
children.  This  could  only  be  done  by  or  through  the  Queen  herself. 
The  Crown  had  a  right  to  protect  the  person  of  the  heir  and  to  super- 
intend the  settlement  of  his  property,  and  in  face  of  such  a  flagrant 
defiance  of  justice  and  precedent  as  the  late  Earl's  will  the  Crown, 
and  the  Crown  alone,  could  ignore  in  certain  points  the  wishes  of 
the  testator.  But  the  Crown  had  to  be  dealt  with  warily.  In  spite  of 
his  own  offensive  marriage,  and  of  the  Queen's  French  suitors,  the 
Earl  of  Leicester  was  still  the  man  best  able  to  do  this  successfully. 
He  could  carry  the  Council  with  him;  he  was  doubly  related  to 
Lady  Southampton's  family,  he  had  helped  her  husband  before,  at 
her  request,  and  he  had  offered  again  to  help  her  if  need  be  now;  so 
he  would  be  sure  to  do  the  best  he  could  for  her.  She  made  up  her 
mind  to  write  first  to  the  Earl  of  Leicester1.  He  liked  to  be  con- 
sulted first,  Burleigh  could  bide  his  time. 

She  wrote,  accordingly2,  as  early  as  she  could  reasonably  have 
done  so,  only  ten  days  after  the  death  of  her  husband. 

1  The  knowledge  of  how  she  did  so  came  into  my  hands  in  this  way. 
Searching  as  I  did  for  everything  concerning  the  name,  I  found  in  the 
Report  of  the  Historical  Manuscripts  Commission  a  reference  to  letters 
written  by  the  Countess  of  Southampton  to  the  Earl  of  Leicester  in  1592. 
Knowing  that  she  could  not  have  written  them  then,  or  at  least  that  he 
could  not  have  received  them,  I  applied  to  the  owner  of  the  letters,  Capt. 
Charles  Cottrell-Dormer  of  Rousham,  to  let  me  see  them,  and  was  kindly 
allowed  to  go  down  and  copy  them  for  myself.  I  cannot  understand  how 
these  letters  got  to  Rousham;  neither  does  the  present  possessor.  The 
Countess  of  Southampton's  brother  Anthony  had  married  Mary,  daughter 
of  Sir  William  Dormer ;  her  step-sister  Elizabeth  married  Sir  Robert 
Dormer,  afterwards  Baron  Dormer  of  Wing.  The  Dormer  family  were  also 
related  to  Lord  Leicester,  but  it  is  difficult  to  account  for  these  special 
letters  travelling  from  the  Earl  of  Leicester's  study  to  the  possession  of 
the  Dormers. 

*  I  found,  as  I  expected,  that  the  secretary  had  committed  an  error  in 
date.  Apparently  the  first  of  the  Countess's  letters  dated  "  i4th  October," 
and  endorsed  "1582,"  must  have  been  written  in  1581. 


ii]  THE  EARL'S  BOYHOOD  9 

My  Lord,  as  ever  I  helde  myself  greatly  beholding  unto  you,  for  your 
favour  and  well  wyshing  of  me,  so  that  yt  pleased  yor  Lordship,  now  in  the 
tyme  of  my  greatest  dyscomfort  and  neede  of  assestance  to  offer  so  honourably 
of  yor  owen  mocion  your  helpe  to  raise  my  greved  mynd  and  defende  me 
from  the  mallis  of  those  that  my  unkynd  Lord  (God  forgeve  him)  hath  left 
in  over  great  trust  behynd  hym.  I  acknowledg  myself  most  bownd,  besechynge 
yor  Lordship  to  show  that  favor  towards  me  at  this  tyme  as  you  have  often 
promysed  and  I  have  assured  myself  to  fynd  when  inded  I  should  have 
cause  to  crave  the  same  with  effecte.  That  my  boye  is  past  yor  hande  I  can 
but  sorrow,  not  remedy  but  that  the  holl  stat  of  this  erldom  he  is  of  trust 
to  injoy  should  rest  in  the  hands  of  so  unworthy  a  person  as  gentell  Mr 
Dymocke  voyde  of  either  wytte,  abelity,  or  honesty  to  dischardg  the  same 
doth  so  vexe  me  as  in  troth  my  Lord  I  am  not  able  to  expresse.  How  to 
better  yt  I  knowe  no  menes  but  by  yor  menes  to  her  Majestic  to  have 
consideracion  of  the  man,  and  great  matters  that  resteth  in  his  hands  un- 
accomptable  but  by  Her  prerogative,  which  I  trust  by  yor  Lordships  menes 
to  procure  for  the  good  of  the  child.  Mr  Dymock  proved  the  wyll  the  next 
day  after  my  Lord  his  death,  by  his  owen  bare  othe  without  the  knowledge 
of  any  of  the  rest  of  the  executors,  such  worthy  persons  as  are  not  in  stat 
to  undertake  yt,  which  makes  me  hope  that  the  wyll  is  not  of  such  force  as 
he  would  have  yt  either  in  substance  or  surcomstance,  that  I  intend  to  put 
to  the  (Dr  Drury's)  tryall,  not  to  undo  any  resonable  matter  my  Lord  hath 
don  herin,  but  to  defend  my  chyldern  and  my  selfe  from  ther  fingers  that 
mynd  no  good  to  either  of  us.  Yor  Lordship's  ayde  and  assestance  I  desyre 
herein,  that  yor  credytt  may  be  used  for  my  releife  cheflye  with  her  Majestic 
and  that  it  wyll  plese  you  to  bestow  yor  breth  to  Doctor  Drury  (befor 
whom  the  probatt  is  to  be  made)  to  show  all  the  favor  he  may  to  make  yt 
voyd,  and  thereby  the  admynistration  to  be  granted  to  me,  upon  such 
sufficient  assurance  for  the  honorable  dyschardge  thereof  as  shalbe  to  the 
content  of  all  parties.  That  his  Lordship  contynewed  his  hard  mynd  towards 
me  till  his  last,  I  greeve  more  for  his  sowll  than  any  harme  he  hathe  don  to 
me  therein,  for  my  assurance  of  lyving  rested  not  in  his  hands  to  bare. 
For  the  rest  I  way  not,  but  by  my  troth  am  rather  glad  he  hath  gevyn  me 
so  just  cawse  to  forgett  him  that  otherwyse  I  should  have  caryed  my 
rememberance  with  grefe  more  then  enoughe  to  my  last  howere. 

Ten  thousand  tymes  have  I  remembered  yor  speches  to  me  full  often 
touching  the  dyspocion  of  the  man.  I  think  I  shall  hold  you  for  more  then 
half  a  profiyt,  that  I  wyshe  sholde  not  prophecy  in  the  worste  parte  of  me. 
Well  my  Lord,  I  am  now  free,  and  be  you  sure,  to  the  graitest  prince  that 
lyveth  wyll  I  not  put  myself  in  the  lyke  condicyon  nether  for  my  quyett 
nor  welth.  Yor  helping  hand  put  to,  good  Lord, 'with  so  much  good  wyll 
as  my  affection  towards  yourself  ever  hath  deserved,  the  matter  is  honorable 
and  as  resonable  to  be  granted  by  yor  menes  whose  credytt  I  hope  shall  ever 
be  able  to  incounter  Mr  Dymocke,  although  my  Lord  of  nowt  made  him, 


io       THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

and  many  mo.  I  wold  not  tyer  you  with  many  lines....!  rest  you  to  God, 
and  myself  to  your  Lordships  affectionate  rememberance,  from  Battell  this 
1 4th  of  October,  Your  Lordships  most  assured  poure  frend  and  cosyn, 

M.  SOUTHAMPTON. 

Good  my  Lord,  borne  this  and  tak  no  knowladge  of  my  wryting  for  this 
tyme,  for  I  have  not  made  any  cretur  prevy  to  yt,  but  cold  not  be  quyett 
tyll  I  had  don,  nether  shalbe  tyll  I  here  from  you1. 

The  Earl  of  Leicester's  answer  to  this  impulsive  and  perhaps 
slightly  imprudent  letter  may  be  inferred  from  her  next  letter  dated 
clearly  25th  October,  1581. 

My  good  Lord, 

I  have  receyved  by  my  Lord  my  father  notis  of  your  honorable  care 
had  of  me,  in  this  great  extremyte  that  bade  persons  dryves  me  into,  wherfore 
I  acknowlege  myselfe  bownd  unto  yor  Lordship  praying  the  contynuance  of 
yor  favor  so  fare  as  consyence  and  honor  may  warant  the  sam.  The  hard 
delling  of  my  Lord  towards  me  in  his  lyffe  was  not  unknowne  unto  your 
Lordship,  and  how  he  hath  left  me  at  his  death  is  to  aparant  to  all,  makyng 
his  sarvant  his  wyffe,  by  geving  to  him  all  and  to  myself  nothing  that  he 
colde  put  from  me.  His  only  dawghter  is  lyttle  preferred  in  benefytt  before 
his  man,  who  surly,  my  Lord,  colde  never  deserve  yt  with  awght  that  is  in 
him,  except  with  feding  my  Lord  his  humour  agaynst  me  to  incresse  his 
owen  credytt  to  that  heytte  as  now  (with  dyshonor  more  then  enoughe)  yt 
is  comen  unto.  What  greffe  yt  is  to  me,  I  can  not  make  known  unto  yor 
Lordship,  the  rather  for  that  yt  is  now  remedyles.  Yt  resteth  now  that  by 
yor  Lordships  good  menes  and  other  my  frendes  ther  may  be  that  don  for 
the  good  of  the  chyld  and  surty  of  that  which  his  father  hath  left  unto 
him  that  yor  authoritie  or  credytt  may  afford,  that  his  evell  stat  may  not 
rest  at  the  devocion  of  Dymocke,  who  hath  sufficed  in  no  way  to  dyschardge 
yt,  and  for  my  self  my  desyre  is  not  unresolved  ?  but  as  a  wyffe  to  be  con- 
sydered,  and  so  do  mynd  to  dell  as  I  am  delt  withall  by  them.  That  my 
lyttyle  sonne  refused  to  here  (hear)  service  is  not  my  fawlt  that  hath  not 
seen  him  almost  this  twoo  yeres.  I  trust  yor  Lordship  esteemes  me  to  have 
some  more  discrecion  then  to  forbyd  him  that  which  his  fewe  yeres  can  not 
judge  of.  Truly  my  Lord,  yf  my  self  had  kept  him  he  shold  in  this  howse 
have  come  to  yt  as  my  Lord  my  father  and  all  his  doth.  I  pray  yor  Lordship 
that  he  may  understand  this  much  from  me  to  put  her  (Majestic)  out  of 
doubt  I  was  not  gylty  of  that  folly.  With  my  very  herty  well-wyshing  unto 
yor  Lordship  I  rest  in  assurance  of  your  favor  and  assestance  which  I  wyll 
deserve  by  all  the  good  menes  I  may,  from  Cowdray  this  25th  of  October 
yor  assured  frend  and  cosyn,  , ,  0  „ 

M.  SOUTHAMPTON2. 

1  Letter  xvn.    Cottrell-Dormer  MSS. 
1  Letter  v.    Cottrell-Dormer  MSS. 


n]  THE  EARL'S  BOYHOOD  n 

It  may  have  struck  readers  of  the  printed  series  of  the  Privy 
Council  Register1  as  peculiar  that  Edward  Gage,  who  had  been 
sent  to  prison  as  a  stubborn  recusant,  should  have  been  let  out 
so  often  and  so  long  (on  his  word  of  honour  to  return)  in  order 
that  he  should  superintend  the  settling  of  the  late  Earl  of  South- 
ampton's affairs,  though  he  was  but  one  of  five  executors. 

It  is  probable  that  the  Countess,  who  knew  each  of  the  executors 
personally,  had  dropped  a  hint  to  the  Earl  of  Leicester  that  the  only 
executor  both  able  and  willing  to  counteract  Dymock's  influence 
was  her  own  cousin  Edward  Gage.  If  he  could  do  nothing  else,  he 
could  cause  delay  in  settlement  by  insisting  on  arithmetical  exactitude 
in  each  detail.  A  good  many  sums  in  Proportion  would  of  necessity 
have  to  be  worked  out  in  an  over-estimated  will,  so  that  the  heir 
should  not  be  the  sole  loser. 

Apparently  Leicester's  influence  had  been  sufficient  to  do  this  at 
first,  without  attracting  notice;  to  induce  Dr  Drury  to  quash 
Dymock's  attempt  to  prove  the  will  on  his  own  account;  and  to 
urge  the  Queen  to  take  things  into  her  own  high  hand,  with  a  view 
probably  of  securing  the  real  wardship  for  himself.  One  item  of 
the  will  was  apparently  set  aside  by  the  Queen,  namely  that 
compulsorily  separating  the  daughter  from  the  mother.  There  is 
unexpected  corroboration  of  this  opinion  in  an  obscure  corner  of 
the  Loseley  Papers.  Anthony  Garnett,  the  confidential  secretary 
and  general  manager  of  Lord  Montague's  affairs2,  wrote  to  Sir 
William  More  on  the  2Qth  of  November,  1581,  in  answer  to  a 
list  of  his  queries  about  the  characters  of  the  four  sons  of  Lady 
Cripps  (a  recusant),  John,  Henry,  Edward,  and  George.  Garnett 
said  John  had  married  Mr  Roper's  daughter,  and  lived  in  London, 
near  St  Mary  Overies;  "  Henry  was  once  my  Lord's  man  in  the 
household,  and  departed  from  us  three  years  past,  and  since  hath 
married  Mr  Culpepper's  daughter  of  Aylesford,  Kent,  and  dwells 
there."  Edward  formerly  served  the  Earl  of  Warwick;  George, 
the  youngest  "hath  served  in  the  household  of  the  last  Earl  of 
Southampton  for  sundry  years  past,  and  is  now  one  of  his  at  Titch- 
field  till  the  funeral  be  past — None  of  them  have  been  one  night 

]  Privy  Council  Registers,  i3th  Aug.  1580,  zoth  June  1581,  igth  Dec. 
1581,  nth  Jan.  1582,  ist  April  1582. 
1  Loseley  Papers,  x.  129. 


12       THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON    [CH. 

with  us  for  these  two  years  saving  George,  yesternight,  who,  with 
others,  his  fellows,  brought  the  young  Lady  Wresley1  to  us,  and 
departed  again  to  Titch field."  This  letter  was  written  the  day 
before  the  funeral. 

I  know  not  by  whose  authority  the  daughter  was  brought  to  the 
mother,  but  there  she  was.  It  is  perfectly  certain  that  Lord  Mon- 
tague would  neglect  no  honour  he  could  pay  to  the  deceased  as  one 
of  the  chief  mourners  in  the  great  funeral  cortege  of  his  son-in-law, 
and  would  insist  on  being  in  his  due  place  by  the  side  of  the  young 
heir.  After  the  funeral  the  winding  up  of  affairs  would  begin  afresh 
with  increased  difficulty  through  the  heavy  expenses  entailed  by 
its  grandeur.  Unfortunately  for  the  family,  Edward  Gage's  time  of 
leave  from  prison  to  attend  to  his  relative's  entangled  affairs  was 
about  to  expire  long  before  the  duties  necessary  had  been  overtaken. 
To  leave  things  to  the  decision  of  Thomas  Dymock  unchecked  just 
then  was  more  dangerous  even  than  it  had  been.  So  on  the  1 1  th  of 
December  the  Countess  wrote  again  to  the  Earl  of  Leicester 

My  good  Lord,  as  from  the  begynning  I  have  rested  and  relyed  upon  the 
honorable  promyse  yt  plesed  you  to  make  to  ayde  and  asseste  me  and  myne 
in  all  resonable  cawses.  So  am  I  now  ernestly  to  requeste  yor  helpe  in  a 
matter  that  conserns  my  chylde  so  much  as  his  well  or  evell  doing  rests  much 
thereupon.  By  my  father  his  letter  yor  Lordship  shall  understand  an 
agreement  is  past  between  my  Lord  his  executors  and  us,  to  our  resonable 
contents.  Yt  resteth  now  that  yor  Lordship  wyll  afford  that  favor  to  us,  as 
my  cosyn  Gage,  being  the  only  man  in  casse  to  undertake  and  dyschardge 
this  great  matter  of  my  Lord  his  wyll,  may  have  furder  liberty  upon  such 
resonable  condicions  as  I  trust  will  be  well  lyked  of  by  yor  Lordship  and 
all  others. 

Mr  Hare  is  a  weak  sykly  body,  and  refuseth  to  deal  in  yt,  except  the  other 
may  be  in  casse  to  perform  what  he  shall  advyse  and  sett  downe  for  the 
surety  of  the  chyldern  and  dischardge  of  the  wyll.  Yf  possibly  yt  may  be, 
which  truly,  my  Lord  can  never  be  (without  over  great  hinderance  to  the 
chyld)  except  such  travell  and  pavnes  which  may  ever  be  taken  for  yt,  as 
I  know  none  can  or  wyll  do,  but  he  who  is  tyed  to  the  chyld,  both  in  natur 
and  kynship.  That  your  Lordship  shall  judge  my  Lord  my  father  his  meaning, 
nor  myne,  is  not  to  make  an  undutyfull  motion  to  her  Majestic  or  her  state. 
His  Lordship  hath  travylled  with  him  and  hath  drawn  him  to  consent  to 

1  Mr  Bray  has  written  on  the  margin  of  the  letter,  against  this  name, 
"Lady  Wesley."  He  has  altered  the  spelling  to  make  it  into  a  name  he 
knew,  not  realising  apparently  that  Wresley  was  the  phonetic  spelling  of 
Wriothesley. 


n]  THE  EARL'S  BOYHOOD  13 

enter  in  to  such  band,  with  such  condicion  as  in  effecte  was  offered  unto 
him  before.  Good  my  Lord,  lett  me  by  yor  menes  obtayn  this  resonable 
favor,  the  great  nesesity  of  the  cause  reqyryng  it  and  the  good  of  one  so 
nere  yorself  as  the  child  is,  depending  upon  yt.  Myself  wyll  acknowledge 
myself  bound  unto  your  Lordship  therfore,  and  myn  have  cause  to  pray  for 
you  ever,  and  thus  my  good  Lord,  resting  in  assured  hope  of  yor  favor  and 
furderance  to  this  my  ernest  request,  with  my  hartye  well-wyshing  to  you  as 
to  my  owen  self,  I  leve  to  troble  yor  Lordship,  from  Cowdray  this  nth  of 
December  yor  Lordships  most  assured  poure  cosyn  and  frend, 

M.  SOUTHAMPTON. 

I  must  not  forget  to  tell  your  Lordship  bis  [Gage's]  day  to  returne  is  now 
before  Crysmas  eve,  and  therfore  must  crave  yor  helpe  for  longer  lybertye  more 
speedyly  as  also  for  that  as  yett  ther  is  not  order  takyn  in  any  thing,  nor  the 
inventory  made,  neither  such  consideracion  as  they  are  to  make  unto  my 
self  perfytted  which  makes  me  with  great  reson  the  more  ernest  to  procure 
his  lyberty1." 

Addressed  "To  my  singuler  good  Lord  the  Earle  of  Leycester 
geve  this."  Endorsed  "nth  Decb.  1581." 

It  is  evident  that  the  Earl  of  Leicester  moved  the  Queen  and 
Court  to  agree  to  the  writer's  special  pleading.  Court  feeling  was 
with  the  Countess,  the  will  was  an  infringement  of  class  custom, 
and  the  widow  had  many  friends  and  relatives  in  power.  Her 
father's  letter  of  the  I4th  December  supports  her  loyally. 

It  may  please  yor  Lordship  tunderstand  that  after  moch  travaile  and  other 
conference  with  the  executors  of  the  late  Erie  of  Southampton,  we  have  att 
the  last  geven  to  a  quiett  resolution,  so  muche  as  maybe  both  honorable  to 
the  wife  and  surtye  to  the  children.  It  falleth  now  out  that  the  chardge  of 
the  will  is  so  great,  and  so  far  surmounteth  the  matter  appoynted  to  dis- 
chardge  it,  thatt  without  an  extraordinary  fidelitye,  care,  and  attendance  it 
is  hardly  possible  the  same  may  be  performed  without2 
of  the  younge  chylde. 

Thereunto 

The  cheffe  (and  indeede  the  only)  personne  that  is  reputed  likely  and  able 
by  care  and  travaill  to  do  good  therein  is  my  cousin  Edward  Gage,  without 
whom  Mr  Hare  (being  indeede  wise,  learned  and  honest,  yett  weake  and 
subject  to  extraordinarye  infirmities,  refuseth  in  effect  all  dealinge),  my 
humble  sute  therfor  to  yor  Lordship  is  that  in  this  case  so  moche  towching 
the  well  or  evil  doing  of  these  chylderne,  yor  Lordship  wolde  vowchsafe  to 
putt  to  yor  helpinge  hande  for  the  liberty  of  the  said  Edward  Gage,  and  yett 

1  Letter  iv.    Cottrell-Dormer  MSS. 

*  Spaces  have  been  left  where  the  handwriting  becomes  uncertain. 


14       THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON    [CH. 

lothe  in  any  wise,  to  seeme  forgetfull  eyther  of  his  present  state,  or  of  my 
duty  to  the  honor  of  that  bonde,  and  I  have  ernestly  delt  with  him  to  frame 
himselfe  to  accept  of  some  such  band  as  I  learne  hath  bin  before  offered, 
and  he  then  refused,  the  rather  to  move  all  your  Lordships  to  favour  this 
sute  for  his  libertye. 

A  note  of  that  he  is  unto  I  sende  yor  Lordship  herewith 

hoping  that  the  same  will  be  to  your  Lordships  likynge.  The  tyme  of  his 
retorne  to  prison  is  before  Crismas,  and  therefore  I  am  the  more  bound  to 
crave  your  Lordships  honorable  assistance  and 

And  thus  my  good  Lord,  I  doo  wish  unto  you  long  and  happie  liffe,  from 
my  howse  att  Cowdraye  the  I4th  of  December  1581.  Your  Lordships 

assured  friend  and  kynsman,  A  , , 

ANTHONY  MouNTAGUE1. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  compare  the  items  of  the  will  of  the 
first  Earl  of  Southampton,  who  had  made  the  family  fortune2,  and 
that  of  the  second  Earl,  who  had  neither  earned  nor  gained  nor  been 
granted  any  new  supplies,  who  had  been  appointed  to  no  lucrative 
office  and  had  not  inherited  anything  from  any  one  (except  his 
mother),  who  had  lost  considerably  through  fines  and  imprisonment, 
and  who  had  lived  at  an  extravagant  rate,  even  for  his  rank.  He 
had  willed  in  what  was  meant  to  be  ready  money  in  pounds  6830, 
in  marks  1420,  with  many  fees  and  annuities  for  life  or  periods  of 
years,  and  "the  Queen's  Thirds."  Edward  Gage  was  to  reduce 
the  late  Earl's  dreams  to  the  reality,  and  his  liberty  was  extended 
on  the  1 8th  December.  But  Lord  Montague  did  not  use  his 
influence,  probably  did  not  wish  to  do  so,  to  shield  his  daughter 
from  the  search  in  Southampton  House  in  Holborn  ordered  on 
the  20th  December  of  that  year. 

The  chief  question  was  to  find  sufficient  ready  money  for  urgent 
needs  and  legacies.  The  heralds  who  conducted  the  funeral  on 
3Oth  November,  1581,  would  not  like  to  be  kept  waiting,  nor  the 
servants,  who  were  to  be  retained  for  three  months  and  leave  with 
£40  apiece  (some  of  them  more),  nor  the  poor  bedeswomen ;  and  there 
were  current  necessary  expenses.  It  is  perfectly  certain  that  Lord 
Montague  in  his  liberality,  sympathy,  and  family  pride,  would  have 
to  advance  large  sums  to  ease  the  burdens  of  the  other  executors, 
none  of  them  men  of  means  like  himself.  The  monuments  could 

1  Letter  xn.    Cottrell-Dormer  MSS. 

2  Thevalueof  the  lands  of  Thomas,  Earl  of  Southampton,  is  £1350.  ios.6d. 
Cecil  Papers,  Petitions,  2138. 


ii]  THE  EARL'S  BOYHOOD  15 

wait,  and  would  have  to  wait;  and  Lord  Montague  was  the  only 
person  concerned,  who  had  the  taste  and  magnificence  sufficient 
to  select  and  plan  the  design  of  the  tomb  which  still  survives  in  the 
little  church  at  Titch field. 

Doubtless  his  influence  likewise  helped  to  hasten  on  the  Inquisi- 
tion Post  Mortem.  This  was  commenced  on  30th  May,  1582,  and 
completed  on  the  i8th  June  of  same  year  at  Alton,  Hampshire, 
before  the  escheators1  Benjamin  Tichbourne,  Thomas  Vuedale, 
John  Snell,  armigers,  from  the  statements  of  the  friends  and  servants 
of  the  deceased.  The  list  of  the  manors  is  given — Bloomsbury  in 
Holborn,  Bugle  Hall  or  Bull  Place  in  Southampton,  Beaulieu, 
Titchfield,  etc.;  the  will  of  the  first  Earl  is  recalled  and  the 
indenture  between  the  second  Earl  and  the  Viscount  Montague 
and  others  to  protect  the  interests  of  the  Countess  Mary  recorded, 
as  is  the  Earl's  will  of  the  i  oth  May  1 1  Eliz.,  when  his  daughter 
the  Lady  Jane  was  his  heir  presumptive,  with  instructions  what 
was  to  be  done  when  she  attained  her  full  age  (a  whole  sheet 
is  wanting  here,  at  the  most  interesting  part). 

The  Inquisition  then  deals  with  the  Earl's  will  drawn  up  on 
24th  June,  1581^  The  will,  which  was  attested4  by  Thomas 
Lord  Paget  and  Thomas  Dymock,  was  proved  by  Edward  Gage, 
Gilberd  Wells,  Ralf  Hare,  Thomas  Dymock  on  yth  November 
1582,  when  things  were  settled  as  well  as  they  could  be  at  the 
time2. 

The  contents  of  the  office  drawn  after  the  death  of  Henry  late  Earl  of 
Southampton3. 

First  the  jointure  of  the  Countess  by  indenture  made  the  10  of  February 
anno  xmo  Rne.  Eliz.  between  the  said  Earl  of  the  one  party  and  the  Lord 
Mountegue  and  Symon  Lowe  of  the  other  party. 

Item  that  the  said  Earl  after,  by  indenture  dated  xmodie  Maii  ao  xm°Rne. 
Eliz.  made  between  the  said  Earl  of  the  one  party  and  the  Lord  Mountegue 
and  John  Hippesley  Esquere  of  the  other  party,  did  for  the  consideration 
therein  recited  covenant  with  the  said  Lord  Mountague  and  John  Hippesley, 
that  he  the  said  Earl  and  all  persons  &c.  should  stand  seized  of  all  his  Lord- 
ship's manors  lands  and  tenements  to  the  use  of  the  said  Earl  for  term  of 
his  life  natural  without  impeachment  of  waste  and  after  his  decease  to  the 
use  of  the  Lord  Mountague  Raffe  Scrope  and  John  Hippesley  their  executors 

1  Inq.  P.  M.  Eliz.  Part  i.  196/46.  *  Rowe,  45. 

8  Mr  Gunton  kindly  checked  my  copy  of  some  notes  from  Cecil  Papers, 
206.  99. 


16       THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

and  assigns  until  one  of  the  sons  of  the  said  Earl  should  be  of  the  full  age  of 
21  years,  with  divers  remainders  to  his  own  issue  and  for  want  thereof  to 
others  upon  trust  that  the  said  Lord  Mountague  &c.  shall  pay  the  debts  and 
legacies  of  the  said  Earl  &c.  with  a  proviso  that  the  said  Earl  may  demise 
his  manors  lands  and  tenements  aforesaid. 

A  proviso  that  the  said  Earl  may  change  and  alter  the  uses. 

A  proviso  for  leases  to  stand  in  force. 

Item,  the  said  Earl's  will,  That  the  said  Earl  divided  and  set  out  the  third 
part  to  the  Queen's  Majesty  and  the  other  2  parts  to  the  executors  for  per- 
formance of  his  will. 

The  Queen's  Majesty's  third  part  descended  to  the  young  Earl. 

The  part  left  to  the  executors. 

The  tenures  and  values  of  the  lands  &c. 

Endorsed  "Contents  of  the  Earl  of  Southampton's  Office." 
Undated. 

In  a  book  called  The  Sale  of  Wards  at  the  Record  Office1,  it  is 
stated  that  the  annual  sum  of  the  property  by  the  assets  had  been 
found  on  the  I3th  day  of  June  1582,  to  be  ^1097.  ^  Il%d. 
There  is  no  mention  of  a  guardian. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  following  year  a  tabulated  report  was 
prepared  by  the  executors  and  handed  in  by  Lord  Howard2. 

The  yearly  value  of  the  Erie  of  Southampton  his  Lands  as  well  in  possession 
as  in  reversion.  The  yearely  value  of  the  Countess  of  Southampton  her 
revenewe  parcell  of  the  Premises  £362.  19*.  o£<£ 

The  Lands  dyscended  to  the  nowe  Earle  in  her  Majestie's  hands  per 
Annum  £370.  l6s.  8%d. 

The  Lands  devysed  by  the  late  Erles  last  wyll  to  the  Executors  per 
Annum  £363.  us.  ^\<L. 

Summa  total.  £1097.  6s.  fyd. 

The  yerely  revenue  which  the  said  Erie  shall  receive  at  his  full  age  Imprimis 
his  Landes  which  are  in  her  Majestie's  hands  because  of  his  mynoritie,  and 
the  landes  which  the  Executors  have  by  the  devyce  of  the  last  Erie's  wylle 
shalbe  out  of  lease  at  his  full  age  to  grant  which  will  be  yearly  worth^ooo, 
over  and  above  the  said  Countess'  joynture  being  of  the  yerely  value  of 
£362.  195.  o$d. 

Item,  there  wylbe  made  also  by  a  greate  fyne  at  the  least  £2000. 

Item  the  Leases  of  Micheldever,  Estratton  and  West  Stratton,  and  of  the 
Parsonage  of  Tychfield  with  the  other  leases  wylbe  yearly  worth  ^400. 

Sum  of  the  said  Erles  yerely  Revenue  £4000,  over  and  above  the  said 
Countess  joynture  being  of  the  yerely  rent  of  £362.  19^.  oj</. 

Item  the  Executors  may  not  by  the  said  Erles  wyll  lett  or  grant  any 
1  Vol.  21-30  Eliz.  no.  157.  z  Lansdowne  MS.  xxxvu.  30. 


PLATE    II 


THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON  AS  A  BOY 
(From  the  monument  in  Titchfield  Church) 


n]  THE  EARL'S  BOYHOOD  17 

copyhold  or  ferine,  but  the  same  must  be  at  the  disposition  of  the  Erie  at 
his  full  age. 

Item  that  the  said  Erie  shall  have  his  howses  well  furnishyd,  and  stuffed 
with  all  manner  of  furnyture,  Armor  and  plate,  and  his  grounds  well  stocked 
and  stored  with  cattell,  which  the  executors  must  performe,  beside  the  great 
quantitye  of  woode  growing  uppon  the  said  Erles  lands. 

Lands  and  Leases  which  presentlie  oughte  to  be  in  the  saide  Erles  posession 
The  Manor  of  Ytchell,  purchased  in  the  Erie's  name,  of  the  yerely  value  of 
£100. 

Item  the  Leases  of  Estratton  Westratton  and  Mycheldever,  and  the 
parsonage  of  Tychfield  of  the  yearely  value  of  ^300.  summa  ^400. 

Endorsed  "3rd  January  1582/3.  Noting  of  the  Erie  of  South- 
ampton's Leases  from  ye  Lord  Howard." 

With  the  exception  of  attesting  that  the  copy  of  the  Earl's  will 
made  for  probate  was  the  same  as  that  which  the  Earl  had  written, 
Lord  Thomas  Paget  seems  to  have  taken  no  trouble  with  his  departed 
friend's  testament;  Charles  Paget,  his  brother,  is  never  heard  of 
again  and  was  probably  absent  in  settling  his  own  affairs,  so  that  "the 
casting  vote "  on  points  of  differences  in  opinion  would  always  lie 
with  Thomas  Dymock;  the  Lord  Admiral,  finding  this  Wardship 
involved  much  trouble,  some  humiliation,  and  no  present  prospect 
of  remuneration,  seems  to  have  resigned  it  into  the  Queen's  hands, 
or  sold  it  to  Lord  Burleigh. 

In  one  of  the  Wriothesley  Pedigrees  in  the  British  Museum1  the 
note  is  added  "  Henry  Earl  of  Southampton,  now  living,  under  age, 
and  the  Queen's  Ward."  No  mention  is  made  of  a  guardian,  but 
later  events  shew  that  Burleigh  acted  as  one,  for  the  Queen  as  Master 
of  the  Wards.  We  may  have  gathered  that  the  Countess  rather 
regretted  that  the  Earl  of  Leicester  had  not  secured  the  office;  but 
Lord  Burleigh  was  in  every  way  a  better  and  more  suitable  guardian 
than  Leicester  could  have  been  at  his  best. 

Burleigh  seems  to  have  taken  the  boy  away,  in  the  first  instance, 
to  a  place  where  Thomas  Dymock  dared  not  follow,  to  his  own 
home,  with  only  occasional  visits  allowed  to  his  mother  and  grand- 
father. Lord  Burleigh  was  very  fond  of  children,  his  wife  was 
educated  up  to  the  highest  level  of  women's  learning  of  the  time, 
and  his  son  Robert,  about  1 2  years  the  young  Earl's  senior,  a  model 

1  Harl.  MS.  f.  44.    See  also  his  most  ambitious  Pedigree,  Had.  Rot.  O.  12. 
s.  s.  2 


1 8   THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON  [CH. 

of  industry,  patience,  and  learning.  Above  all,  Lord  Burleigh  could 
inculcate  conformity  to  the  Queen's  will  in  matters  of  religion 
without  undue  harshness;  and  we  may  be  sure  that  never  more 
would  the  boy  have  the  courage  to  refuse  to  be  present  at  the 
reading  of  the  English  service. 

Lord  Burleigh  also  knew  how  to  manage  great  estates ;  we  can 
well  imagine  him  content  that  the  recusant  Edward  Gage  should 
be  free  so  long  as  he  did  him  such  excellent  service  in  the  Office  at 
Titch  field. 

We  have,  however,  no  clearer  information  concerning  the  Earl's 
boyish  education  than  we  have  concerning  his  childish  training, 
except  through  inferences. 

His  grandfather  would  be  sure  to  take  him  to  see  how  his 
various  manors  were  being  kept  by  care-takers  or  tenants.  He  would 
ere  long  notice  that  there  was  something  wanting  in  all  of  them 
which  he  found  in  Cowdray — the  recognition  of  harmony,  sym- 
metry, and  ordered  art.  The  pictures  of  Cowdray  themselves  helped 
in  his  education.  He  would  never  weary  of  hearing  his  grandfather 
describe  the  portraits,  the  historical  pictures,  the  curios,  the  carvings 
that  surrounded  them.  One  thing  must  have  at  some  time  or  other 
bewildered  the  child.  How  was  it  that  all  this  came  through  the 
"  Earl  of  Southampton,"  and  did  not  come  to  him  ?  We  can  justly 
imagine  he  asked  that  question,  and  that  the  grandfather  kindly  and 
wisely  explained  the  rather  mixed  relations  of  the  two.  He  would 
probably  say  some  such  words  as  "  Long  since,  my  boy,  our  family 
held  high  place.  We  can  trace  back  our  descent  to  Edward  I  and 
Edward  III  and  John  of  Gaunt1.  But  it  is  enough  to  begin  with 
the  Nevilles.  Richard  Neville,  Earl  of  Salisbury,  and  the  Lady  Alice 
Montacute  were  the  parents  of  Richard,  the  great  Earl  of  War- 
wick, called  u  the  King-Maker  ";  their  third  son  was  Sir  John,  who 
was  made  the  Marquis  of  Montacute  (or  Montague)  by  Edward  IV. 
He  was  slain  at  the  Battle  of  Barnet  in  1471.  His  son  George  died 
childless,  but  he  left  five  daughters,  co-heiresses,  by  his  wife  Isabella 
Ingoldsthorpe ;  the  eldest,  Anne,  married  Sir  William  Stonor; 
Elizabeth  married  Lord  Scrope  of  Upsall  and  Masham ;  Margaret, 
Sir  John  Mortimer ;  Lucy,  Sir  Thomas  Fitzwilliam,  of  Aldwark, 
Yorkshire ;  and  Isabel,  William  Huddleston.  The  fourth  daughter, 
1  British  Archaeological  Journal,  xxin.  p.  231. 


n]  THE  EARL'S  BOYHOOD  19 

Lucy  Neville,  lost  her  husband.  She  had  several  sons,  who,  all  but  the 
youngest,  died.  With  that  son,  William,  she  came  to  Court,  married 
my  grandfather,  the  first  Sir  Anthony,  and  had  by  him  one  son,  my 
father,  and  two  daughters.  William  Fitzwilliam  adored  his  mother 
and  her  younger  children.  He  rose  in  the  favour  of  Henry  VIII 
till  he  was  rich  enough  to  buy  Cowdray  from  Sir  David  Owen, 
who  had  got  it  through  his  wife,  the  heiress  of  the  De  Bohuns. 
Then  the  King  made  him  Earl  of  Southampton.  That  is  why, 
when  he  rebuilt  this  place,  he  wrought  his  own  arms  on  the  fretted 
roof — W.  S.  and  a  trefoil — and  an  anchor,  because  he  was  Lord 
Admiral.  He  made  a  settlement  on  himself  and  wife  for  ///<?,  then 
on  my  father  and  his  male  heirs.  When  he  died,  everybody  thought 
the  King  would  give  my  father  the  tide,  as  he  had  received  the 
property — he  deserved  it!  The  King  let  it  lapse.  In  the  reign  of 
Edward  VI,  when  all  the  Councillors  but  my  father  gave  themselves 
tides  in  the  name  of  the  young  King,  Lord  Thomas  Wriothesley, 
your  own  grandfather,  was  offered  an  Earldom,  proposed  to  be  of 
Winchester,  afterwards  of  Chichester;  but  he  chose  Southampton, 
probably  because  the  town  was  near  his  chief  manor  of  Titchfield. 
So,  when  Queen  Mary  made  me  a  peer,  I  chose  my  tide  from  my 
grandmother's  pedigree,  and  was  allowed.  An  Earl  does  take  pre- 
cedence of  a  Viscount,  boy ;  but  do  not  forget  your  mother  comes 
of  an  older  stock  than  your  father's. 

"  And  never  forget,  boy,  that  the  chief  value  of  nobility  is  as  a 
training  in  virtue — 'Noblesse  oblige';  and  our  mottoes  are  to  help 
us  to  bear  in  mind  the  thoughts  of  our  ancestors. 

"The  first  Earl  of  Southampton's  motto  was  'Loyaulte  se  prou- 
uera,'  your  grandfather's  was  '  Ung  par  tout,  tout  par  ung,'  a  good 
motto,  which  is  now  your  own,  and  ours  is  'Suivez  Raison.' 

"  I  feel  that  I  bear  my  uncle  Southampton's  motto  as  well  as  my 
father's.  Grieved  am  I  that  my  father  never  came  to  his  great 
inheritance,  though  he  had  to  fulfil  his  brother's  will.  It  is  not  that 
I  wished  Mabel  Clifford,  his  beloved  wife,  to  die  sooner  (we  all  loved 
her),  but  I  did  wish  and  pray  that  my  father  should  have  lived 
longer  and  enjoyed  the  fruits  of  his  strenuous  labours,  which  all 
came  to  me.  I  try  to  fulfil  his  will,  and  I  am  completing  his  plans 
for  Cowdray,  which  my  aunt  in  her  goodwill  allowed  him  to  use 
as  his  own  till  the  end  of  his  life.  He  had  high  ideas,  my  father; 

2 — 2 


20       THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON    [CH. 

you  can  see  something  of  his  designs.  I  strive  to  complete  them, 
for  him  and  his  memory." 

The  boy's  cousin,  younger  by  four  months,  would  stand  by 
listening  open-eyed,  and  beg  some  stories  of  their  ancestors' doings — 
and  thus  young  Henry  Wriothesley  would  hear  what  was  expected 
of  men  of  his  rank  and  learn  to  dream  of  martial  glory. 

The  young  Earl's  thoughts  would  also  unconsciously  be  moulded 
by  the  events  of  which  the  news  and  the  world's  criticism  came 
to  that  many-voiced  "House  of  Rumour"  where  Burleigh  dwelt. 
Robert  Cecil  would  tell  him  of  the  university  life  he  had  led,  of 
the  characters  of  the  men  he  met  in  his  guardian's  galleries,  of  the 
hopes  he  had  for  England.  Altogether,  even  as  a  child,  the  Earl 
might  secure  a  much  broader  outlook  than  could  ever  have  been 
given  to  him  in  the  narrow-circled  haunts  of  his  father. 

Meanwhile,  though  probably  the  young  Earl  knew  nothing  of  it, 
Lord  Burleigh  had  been  making  strict  enquiries  about  all  the  tenants 
and  dwellers  in  the  various  houses  belonging  to  the  property;  all  the 
more  carefully  because  all  of  them  would  necessarily  be  Catholics, 
so  strict  had  been  the  practices  of  the  late  Earl.  One  paper  is 
interesting  enough  to  give  as  an  illustration1. 

Account  of  Bewley 

1st.  The  House  of  Bewly  occupied  by  Mr  John  Chamberlain  who  hath  the 
same  by  Mr  William  Chamberlain  his  brother  who  had  the  same  of  the 
executors  of  the  Earle. 

And  the  said  Mr  John  Chamberlain  hath  the  personage  and  all  the  grounds 
within  the  wall,  which  by  estimation  is  thought  to  be  about  fifty  acres,  and 
Mr  Chamberlain  pays  to  the  Executors  yearly,  the  some  of  £30.  And  also 
towards  the  repairing  of  the  House  yearely  .£5 ;  and  for  surveing  the  cure  to 
the  Minister  of  Bewley  £12,  and  the  said  John  Chamberlain  paid  for  his 
brother  for  a  fyne  during  the  yeres  of  the  young  Erie's  minoritie  the  sum 
of  £200. 

The  names  of  the  persons  remaining  there 
Mr  John  Chamberlain  the  eldest  and  his  wife 
Mr  John  Chamberlain  his  son,  and  Elizabeth  his  wife 
Mrs  Margaret  Kingston,  widow,  aunt  to  Mr  John  Chamberlain  the  elder 
Elizabeth  daughter  to  Mr  John  Chamberlain  the  elder, 
4  women  servants,  6  menservants. 
The  names  of  the  persons  lately  departed 
Mr  Thomas  Gifford  and  Cycely  his  wife  and  Mary  Lyon 

1  Lansdowne  MS.  XLIII.  (63). 


n]  THE  EARL'S  BOYHOOD  21 

Mr  Michael  Chamberlain  and  Elizabeth  his  wife 
Another  Chambermaid  with  Mr  Gifford,  Two  men  of  Mr  Gifford's 
Mr  Richard  Chamberlain  his  servants,  Ursula  Trussell  his  maide 
Elizabeth  Hussey  her  kinswoman,  Thomas  Jennings  and  Nicholas  Lockley 
Item,  about  the  Hay,  Mr  Chamberlain  has  from  certain  meadows  called 
the  Fulling  Mill  lande  for  which  he  paid  for  during  the  minority  of  the 
Earle  to  Mr  Coxe  and  Mr  Dudson,  my  Lord  Chamberlain's  servants  £10. 
Mem.  All  these  notes  are  set  down  by  me  John  Chamberlain  the  Younger 
and  Elizabeth  his  Mother. 

8th  daie  of  Maie  1585.  (Signatures  of  attesting  witnesses) 

The  Chamberlains  had  been  well-known  servants  of  the  second 
Earl. 

One  would  hardly  expect  to  find  much  about  the  young  Earl  in 
Church  Records,  yet  there  are  some  references  which  do  concern 
him,  directly  as  well  as  indirectly.  Southampton  House  was  in  the 
Parish  of  St  Andrew's,  Holborn,  and  that  living  was  in  the  family 
gift.  Ely  Place,  the  residence  of  his  grandfather  until  the  days  of 
Edward  VI,  stood  just  to  the  west  of  the  church,  as  may  be  seen  in 
the  old  map  in  the  British  Museum  Print  Room,  bound  up  with 
the  Cowdray  pictures.  His  grandmother,  the  Countess  Jane,  had 
appointed  Ralph  Whytlin1  as  Rector  in  1558.  John  Proctor2,  a 
literary  man,  was  appointed  on  his  death  in  1578  (Humphrey  Donat 
pro  hac  vice  ratione  advoc.  ei  concess.  per  Henry  Com.  Southampton), 
On  his  death  in  1584  the  distinguished  Dr  Bancroft  succeeded,  and 
remained  Rector  until  1597,  wnen  he  was  raised  to  the  Bishopric 
of  London;  and  the  Queen  had  taken  the  Royal  Privilege  of 
nominating  the  successor  when  the  Crown  had  promoted  the  in- 
cumbent. On  raising  the  Rector  to  the  Bishopric  of  London,  she 
appointed  John  King,  S.T.B.,  loth  May,  1597.  S°  we  may  gather 
the  character  of  the  men  who,  during  his  life,  officiated  in  the 
church  which  the  Earl  was  bound  to  attend  when  he  was  dwelling 
in  his  Bloomsbury  house. 

About  the  appointment  of  Bancroft  we  have  some  information 
from  Nicolas.  Sir  Christopher  Hatton  had  written  to  Lord  Burleigh 
to  allow  his  Chaplain,  Dr  Richard  Bancroft,  to  hold  the  Rectory 
of  St  Andrew's.  Burleigh  replied3: 

1  Newcourt's  Repertorium,  i.  p.  272. 

J  He  wrote  the  story  of  Wyat's  rebellion. 

*  Nicolas,  Life  of  Sir  Christopher  Hatton,  p.  384. 


22       THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON    [CH. 

I  perceive  by  your  courteous  letters,  your  desire  to  procure  your  Chaplain 
Mr  Bancroft  to  succeed  in  the  place  of  the  parson  of  St  Andrews,  lately 
deceased,  the  patronage  of  which  belonging  to  the  Earl  of  Southampton 
now  in  Wardship  and  so  as  you  suppose,  to  be  disposed  of  by  us.  Herein 
I  am  very  willing,  both  for  your  own  sake,  and  for  Mr  Bancroft,  being  very 
meet  for  the  place,  to  do  what  in  me  lieth.  The  doubt  I  have  is  that  the 
patronage  appertaineth  to  the  Earl  in  right  of  his  house  in  Holborn,  that 
was  aforetime  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln's,  and  then  the  right  of  presentation 
belongs  to  the  executors,  whereof  one  of  the  heirs  is  principal,  and  Edward 
Gage  another,  and  one  Wells  another,  with  whom  you  may  do  well  to  deal; 
and  if  it  be  not  in  them,  you  shall  have  my  assent.  And  for  the  better 
knowledge  thereof,  I  have  given  your  chaplain  my  letter  to  the  Auditor  of 
the  Wards,  who  can  best  inform  you  whether  it  remains  to  the  Queen  or 
to  the  Executors.  From  my  house  at  Theobald's  the  6th  of  August  1584 
Yours  assuredly  as  any 

W.  BURLEIGH. 

Backed  by  Sir  Christopher  Hatton  and  Lord  Burleigh,  Dr  Ban- 
croft was  bound  to  succeed  with  the  executors,  even  if  it  were  in 
their  gift;  and  Newcourt  says  it  was.  Bancroft  was  appointed  I4th 
September  1584.  Something  else  happened  in  St  Andrew's  Church, 
in  the  following  year,  very  much  more  interesting  to  the  young  Earl. 
We  find  from  the  Bishop  of  London's  Marriage  Licences1  that  his 
only  sister  Mary  was  married  there  in  June  1585.  Though  the 
Bishop  of  London  was  quite  sure  about  the  bride,  he  (or  his  clerk), 
for  he  was  but  a  new-made  Bishop,  was  not  quite  so  sure  about 
the  bridegroom.  He  said  he  was  "Sir  Matthew  Arundle  Knt.," 
whereas  the  name  should  have  read  "Mr  Thomas,  son  of  Sir 
Matthew  Arundle  Knt."  (It  is  pleasant  to  note  this  flagrant  error, 
as  so  many  have  tried  to  fix  scandal  upon  Shakespeare  2  by  a  clerk's 
error  in  his  marriage  licence  at  Worcester.)  Taken  in  full  the  entry 
should  have  read — "Mr  Thomas  Arundel  son  of  Sir  Matthew 
Arundel  Knight  and  Mary  Wrisley  (Wriothesley)  spinster,  daughter 
of  Henry,  late  Earl  of  Southampton,  to  marry  in  the  Chapel  of 
Mary  Countess  of  Southampton  in  St  Andrew's,  Holborn."  We 
do  not  know  who  married  them,  as  they  were  both  Catholics  and 
probably  would  have  a  private  marriage  first.  Here  was  the  very 
thing  the  young  Earl  would  delight  in — a  real  brother-in-law,  all 

1  Harleian  Publications,  vol.  xxv.  140. 

1  See  my  Shakespeare's  Family,  p.  62,  and  Shakespeare's  Environment, 
p.  92. 


n]  THE  EARL'S  BOYHOOD  23 

his  own,  young,  and  yet  old  enough  in  his  thirteen  extra  years  of 
life  to  have  travelled,  to  have  been  imprisoned  for  his  faith  (in 
1580),  to  have  had  military  training  and  service  so  thorough  that 
he  had  been  designated  "the  Valiant";  a  man  who  could  fill  the 
young  Earl's  soul  with  the  stories  that  he  most  desired,  of  war  and 
foreign  fields  and  glory.  Burleigh  and  his  son  Robert  were  too 
pacific  to  stimulate  that  side  of  their  ward's  nature.  This  Thomas 
was  the  son  of  Sir  Matthew,  by  Margaret,  daughter  of  Sir  Henry 
Willoughby1  of  Wollaton,  Notts,  known  to  gossip  as  a  shrew. 

The  lady  would  be  a  mother-in-law  that  her  son's  wife  must 
have  somewhat  dreaded.  The  Wriothesleys  were  of  the  new 
nobility,  the  Arundels  were  oldest  of  the  old.  Many  Earls  were 
in  their  pedigree,  some  Dukes,  and  a  few  Queens. 

Thomas  Arundel  subscribed  j£ioo  to  help  the  English  fleet 
against  the  Armada  in  1588,  as  he  was  then  engaged  in  fighting 
against  the  Turks  in  Hungary2.  All  shades  of  Christians  could 
unite  then  in  thrusting  back  the  Infidels.  The  Emperor  Rudolf  II, 
on  1 4th  December,  1595,  made  him  a  Count  of  the  Holy  Roman 
Empire,  a  title  that  Elizabeth  did  not  allow  him  to  assume.  He 
succeeded  to  his  father  as  owner  of  Wardour  in  1598,  and  was 
made  Baron  in  1 605.  Many  letters  about  his  troubles  appear  among 
the  Salisbury  Papers. 

Thomas  had  a  highly  cultured  younger  brother,  William,  who 
probably  attracted  young  Southampton  to  art  and  literature3. 

1  See  New  Review,  Oct.-Dec.  1889,  p.  542. 

1  G.  E.  C.  His  wife  Mary  Wriothesley  died  on  2yth  June,  1607,  and  was 
buried  at  Tisbury,  Wilts.  He  married  again,  and  had  a  son  baptized  at  St 
Andrew's,  Holborn — "Matthew  the  son  of  Thomas  Lord  Arundell  baptized 
1 9th  June  1609."  Both  Lord  Thomas  and  his  wife  were  buried  at  Tisbury, 
Wilts. 

8  Pym  Yeatman's  House  of  Arundel  and  Vivian's  Visitation  of  Cornwall. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  EARL'S  FIRST  ASSOCIATION  WITH 
ST  JOHN'S  COLLEGE,  CAMBRIDGE 

IN  the  autumn  of  the  year  1585  the  Earl's  guardian  sent  him  to 
the  University.  He  was  admitted  at  St  John's  College,  Cambridge, 
as  Fellow-Commoner  at  Michaelmas  1585.  In  the  Register  is  the 
entry  "Ego  Henricus  comes  Southamptoniensis  admissus  eram  in 
alumnum  huius  Collegii  diui  Johannis  Euangelistae  decimo  sexto 
die  Octobris  anno  Domini  1585"  (St  John's  College).  "Dec.  n, 
1585,  Hen.  Comes  Southampton  impubes  12  annorum  admissus 
in  Matriculam  Acad.  Cant:"  (Matric.  University).  There,  young 
as  he  was,  he  would  meet  with  other  youths  of  the  same  age,  all 
engaged  in  mental  work  in  various  branches  of  learning.  Even  at 
this  stage  in  his  life,  we  learn  few  details  concerning  him;  yet  we 
have  the  broad  general  appreciative  testimony  of  Camden:  "Edward 
VI,conferred  the  tide  on  Thomas  Wriothesley  x  Lord  Chancellor. . . 
and  his  grandson  Henry,  by  Henry  his  son  now  enjoys  that  tide, 
who,  in  his  younger  years,  has  armed  the  nobility  of  his  birth,  with 
the  ornaments  of  Learning  and  military  arts,  that  in  his  riper  years, 
he  may  employ  them  in  the  service  of  his  country."2  Henry  Wrio- 
thesley  did  not  find  a  fellow-student  at  College  (as  his  grandfather 
had  done)  enthusiastic  enough  to  record  his  youthful  beauties,  his 
"golden  hair,"  his  talent  for  acting,  his  dabbling  in  the  Muses'  fount, 
attributed  by  Leland  to  Thomas  Wriothesley2  in  his  Encomia.  But, 
on  this  one  side  of  his  character,  he  does  seem  to  have  inherited 
his  literary  and  histrionic  tastes  from  that  grandfather. 

Some  of  his  College  exercises  were  sent  to  Lord  Burleigh,  to 
allow  him  to  measure  the  exactitude  of  his  scholarship  and  the 
excellence  of  his  caligraphy.  These  are  hardly  worth  giving  in 
extenso,  as  it  is  not  at  all  likely  that  the  thoughts  expressed  were 
his  own.  It  is  most  likely  that  a  sample  of  supposed  good  English 
had  been  given  him  to  translate  into  good  Latin.  The  earliest  I  have 
seen  is  endorsed  "June  1586,"  wherein  he  proves  to  his  own 

1  Britannia,  p.  123.  *  See  Addenda. 


CH.  m]    ST  JOHN'S  COLLEGE,  CAMBRIDGE  25 

satisfaction  the  soundness  of  the  tide  "Igitur  laboriosa  juventutis 
studia  sunt,  jucunda  senectutis  otia."1  It  is  written  in  a  beautiful 
clear  Italian  handwriting,  upright,  and  obedient  to  a  broad  margin 
on  the  left  hand,  but  breaking  through  the  proportional  margin  to 
the  right,  crowding  the  letters.  He  signed  it  with  a  larger,  bolder 
hand,  modelled  upon  that  of  his  father,  and,  like  that  of  the  other 
jeunesse  doree  of  his  day,  acutely  angular. 

Another  similar  exercise  has  been  preserved,  dated  July  22nd, 
I5862.  He  must  have  had  approval  of  this,  or  he  would  not  have 
sent  it  to  his  guardian.  It  is  written  in  a  similar  handwriting.  The 
title  was  "Omnes  ad  studium  virtutis  incitantur  spe  premii."  He 
gives  his  arguments  in  correct  Latin,  but  he  must  have  somewhat 
varied  his  text,  as  he  ends  with  the  tide  modified  in  his  conclusion, 
"Facile  igitur  videri  potest  quod  omnes  ad  studium  virtutis  inci- 
tantur spe  gloriae." 

By  the  following  year,  Latin  letters  took  the  place  of  Latin 
exercises  to  send  to  his  guardian,  and  there  the  thoughts  and 
composition  were  probably  his  own,  as  well  as  the  Latin.  He  wrote 
to  thank  Lord  Burleigh  for  taking  care  of  his  affairs: 

Magnas  tibi  gratias  ago  (honoratissime  Domine)  quod  res  mea  tibi  tanto- 
pere  curae  sunt  utinam  gratitudinem  tibi  ostendere  possem  aut  saltern 
aliquo  modo  earn  significare  sed  obsecro  (quia  his  Nuntius  tarn  cito  discessit 
ut  tempus  non  erat  satis  longum  ad  scribendum  amplius  hoc  tempore)  ut  in 
bonam  partem  accipies  hanc  meam  brevem  epistolam  posthac  spondeo  et 
polliceor  me  te  et  pluribus  verbis  et  sepius  velle  affari  et  te  oro  ut  quemad- 
modum  cepisti  mihi  in  omnibus  rebus,  opem  prestari,  ita  pergas  facere  id 
quod  facis  et  ita  me  tibi  semper  deuinctum  curabis.  Deus  te  servet  incolu- 
mem.  Cantabrigiae  x  Junii  1587  Honori  tui  deuinctissimus. 

H.  SOUTHAMPTON  3. 

The  writing  is  not  quite  so  careful  as  that  of  the  two  essays.  The 
right-hand  margin  is  still  somewhat  crowded  by  completions  of  words. 

Several  letters  of  a  similar  handwriting  are  preserved  in  a  volume 
of  the  Lansdowne  manuscripts  (No.  xvn),  some  of  which  suggest 
that  they  had  been  written  by  the  writing  master  who  had  taught 
the  young  Earl  this  style. 

As  was  to  be  expected,  a  will  like  the  second  Earl's  produced  a 
plentiful  crop  of  little  law-suits,  which  of  course  meant  expenditure 

1  Lansdowne  MS.  L.  £.23.  *  Cecil  Papers,  MS.  302. 

*  Lansdowne  MS.  LIII.  £.51. 


26       THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON    [CH. 

of  the  estate,  whichever  side  won.  For  instance,  there  is  one  noted 
in  the  Book  of  Wards  and  Liveries*.  "Charles  Lord  Howard, 
Lord  Admiral  of  England  Committee  of  the  bodye  and  landes  of 
Henry  Earl  of  Southampton,  her  Majestys  Ward,  hath  on  behalf 
of  the  said  Earl  exhibited  a  bill  in  this  court,  against  the  executors 
of  Henry  late  Earl  father  of  the  ward,  to  have  the  yearly  leases  of 
Micheldever,  Stratton,  and  Titchfield  parsonages,  which  are  let  on 
lease  to  divers  persons  until  the  said  young  Earl  shall  accomplish 
his  age  of  1 8  years,"  the  first  two  for  the  yearly  rent  of  £40. 1 3*.  \d., 
and  Titchfield  for  the  yearly  rent  of  £100;  and  various  days  had 
been  appointed  for  the  meeting  of  the  learned  counsel  on  both  sides 
and  debating  the  question,  and  "it  hath  plainely  appeared  unto  this 
court,  that  the  rents  and  profits  of  the  said  leases  in  right  and  equitie 
appertayne  properly  to  the  said  ward,  and  that  the  late  Earle  his 
father  could  not  justly  by  will  or  otherwise,  dispose  of  these  leases, 
as  pretended  by  the  executors,  the  same  being  devised  unto  the 
nowe  young  Earle  by  the  last  will  of  Jane  Countess  of  Southampton 
his  grandmother,  and  the  said  late  Earl  having  no  interest  in  the 
same  but  only  as  executor  to  the  Lady  Jane.  It  is  therefore  ordered 
that  the  farmers  of  the  parsonages  shall  henceforth  during  the 
minority  of  the  young  Earl,  pay  yearly  to  the  Lord  Treasurer,  who 
is  now  Committee  of  the  said  Ward,  to  the  use  of  the  young  Earl, 
their  yearely  rents  of  £40.  13*.  4^.,  and  of  £100,  and  the  Lord 
Treasurer  will  give  them  a  receipt,  which  will  secure  them,  and 
also  the  executors,  against  the  young  Earl  and  any  other  person. 
As  the  young  Earl  is  now  grown  into  some  years,  whereby  the  small 
exhibition  allowed  by  her  Highness  suificeth  not  for  his  convenyent 
mayntenance  and  expense,  which  exhibition  is  so  much  the  less  and 
cannot  conveniently  be  increased  by  reason  that  the  said  Earl's  lands 
in  her  majesties  hands  during  the  minoritie  are  but  of  small  value 
because  of  several  conveyances  made  by  the  late  Earl  for  yearly 
payments  of  annuities,  and  the  dischardge  of  great  dettes  by  him 
owing  for  certain  legacies  given  by  him,  it  is  therefore  ordered  that 
the  said  rents  be  made  payable  to  the  Lord  Treasurer  to  defray  the 
necessary  expenses  and  honorable  mayntenance  of  the  young  Earl 
over  and  above  the  small  annuity  allowed  him  by  the  Queen,  as 
appertain  to  the  estate  and  years  of  the  young  Earl." 
1  Vol.  LXXXV,  Trinity,  28  Eliz. 


m]          ST  JOHN'S  COLLEGE,  CAMBRIDGE  27 

Thus  were  the  greater  expenses  of  his  University  life  met. 

In  the  Hilary  term  of  the  following  year  Richard  Kingsmill  Esq.  *, 
her  Majesty's  Attorney  for  Henry,  Earl  of  Southampton,  her 
Majesty's  ward,  complained  that  the  Earl's  father  was  in  his  lifetime 
lawfully  seized  in  demesne  as  of  fee,  in  the  Manor  of  Broadhenbury 
in  the  parish  of  Broadhenbury,  Co.  Devon,  and  in  the  grange  thereof 
and  of  divers  other  lands,  and  about  five  years  last  past  died  seized. 
They  descended  to  the  young  Earl,  but  the  tenants  and  farmers  paid 
their  tithes  to  the  Vicar  of  Broadhenbury.  The  grounds  were 
formerly  parcel  of  the  Abbey,  and  at  the  dissolution  belonged  to 
Henry  VIII,  to  whom  they  paid  their  tithes.  Now  Roger  Carre, 
Vicar  of  Broadhenbury,  hath  commenced  a  suit  sent  before  Thomas 
Barrett,  Archdeacon  and  officer  to  the  Bishop  of  Exon.,  against 
Thomas  Ellis,  one  of  the  tenants,  for  his  tithes,  which  ought  not 
to  be  paid,  contrary  to  the  ancient  custom,  and  the  disherison  of  the 
young  Earl."  The  answer  is  dated  31  st  Oct.  1588.  Roger  Carre 
knew  of  a  truth  the  lands  belonged  to  the  young  Earl,  but  having 
heard  that  the  previous  Vicar  had  tithes,  he  had  begun  suit  for 
them  On  hearing  that  he  ought  not  to  have  done  so,  he  apparently 
gave  in. 

Another  bill  in  the  same  Court,  in  the  same  term  of  the  following 
year,  lay  nearer  home.  Thomas  Dymock,  Gent.2,  on  behalf  of  Henry, 
Earl  of  Southampton,  her  Majesty's  ward,  complains  that  Richard 
Pitts,  being  an  ill  neighbour  to  his  Park  at  Whiteley  Park,  Co. 
Southampton,  came  with  others  by  night  and  stole  the  deer  there- 
from, with  guns,  dogs,  etc.,  and  beat  the  keepers.  This  suggests  that 
Thomas  Dymock  was  employed  as  Steward  still.  His  interest  in 
Whiteley  Park  was  great.  He  was  paid  for  living  in  it,  to  keep  it 
for  the  young  Earl,  and  his  perquisites  were  large. 

Lord  Montague  had  written  to  Sir  William  More3  on  the 28th  of 
June,  1584,  telling  him  about  a  cause  in  law  which  would  affect 
the  interests  both  of  Lord  Southampton  and  of  his  own  son  Anthony, 
and  begging  Sir  William  to  try  to  procure  an  equal  trial,  free  from 
any  indirect  practices.  I  have  not  been  able  to  determine  to  which 
case  this  refers. 

The  threatening  attitude  of  Spain  caused  an  enquiry  into  the 

1  Court  of  Wards  and  Liveries,  Hil.,  29  Eliz.,  Bundle  27. 

2  Ibid.  Hil.,  30  Eliz.,  Bundle  29.  »  Loseley  Papers,  x.  96. 


28       THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON    [CH. 

amount  of  armour  in  the  country.  The  supplies  at  Titchfield  were 
not  forgotten1.  Hence  ensued,  24th  February,  1586-7,  "A  letter 
to  the  executors  of  the  Erie  of  Southampton,  that  forasmuche  as 
her  Majestic  thinketh  it  convenient,  that  the  armor,  weapons  and 
suche  like  furniture  belonging  to  the  young  Erie  of  Southampton, 
and  remayning  at  his  house  at  Tytchefelde,  should  be  removed  from 
thence  and  committed  to  the  custody  of  some  person  who  should 
looke  into  the  same  to  be  so  kept  and  preservid  that  it  might  nether 
be  increased  or  diminished,  nor  fall  into  decaye  by  meanes  of  rust 
or  otherwise,  nor  to  come  to  the  handes  of  any  ill  affected  persons, 
the  rather  in  respecte  of  the  doubtfullnes  of  theis  times,  of  some 
forraine  attemptes  that  might  be  intendid  upon  the  seacost  of  that 
shire,  and,  namely,  at  Portesmouth,  her  Highnes'  will  and  pleasure 
is,  and  so  she  hathe  willed  us  to  signifye  unto  you,  that  ye  shall 
make  delivery  of  suche  armour,  weapons  and  furniture  as  is  at 
Tychfelde  unto  suche  person  or  persons  whome  our  very  good  Lord 
the  Erie  of  Sussex  shall  direct  unto  yow  to  receave  the  same,  which 
shalbe  by  bylle  indented  betwixt  them  and  you,  to  the  end  that  both 
the  quantities  and  sortes  thereof  maye  be  knowne  and  annswerid 
hereafter,  and  in  the  meane  time  carefully  looked  unto,  the  better 
to  preserve  the  same  to  the  use  of  the  said  Erie  hereafter  or  other- 
wise of  her  Majesty,  if  nede  shoulde  requier  to  use  the  same  for 
her  Majesties  service  upon  any  occasion  happening  thereof  against 
forraine  enemies  or  other  ill  attemptes ;  in  which  case  if  any  parte 
of  the  said  armor  and  munition  shoulde  happen  to  be  decayed  or 
diminished,  allowance  shalbe  made  thereof  by  her  Majestye  as 
reason  is." 

On  June  I4th,  1587,  the  Earl  of  Southampton's  armour  is  to  be 
scoured  and  dressed  by  his  Executors.  A  Royal  Order  in  the  State 
Papers2  supports  and  expresses  this  order. 

Southampton  might  well  have  been  present  at  his  holiday  time 
as  a  spectator  of  a  comedy  played  at  Gray's  Inn  on  the  i6th 
January,  1587-8.  Most  of  the  great  noblemen  are  recorded  to 
have  been  present :  the  Earls  of  Warwick  and  Leicester,  the  Earl  of 
Ormond,  Lord  Burleigh,  Lord  Gray  of  Wilton,  and  others.  On  the 
28th  of  February  following,  The  Misfortunes  of  Arthur,  written  by 

1  Privy  Council  Register,  xiv.  340. 
*  D.S.S.P.  Eliz.  ecu.  25. 


m]          ST  JOHN'S  COLLEGE,  CAMBRIDGE  29 

Thomas  Hughes,  was  acted  by  eight  of  the  members  of  the  Society 
before  the  Queen  at  Greenwich,  and  he  might  have  seen  that  also. 

The  very  next  day  the  Earl  of  Southampton  was  admitted 
member  of  Gray's  Inn,  introduced  by  his  guardian.  But  that  did  not 
necessitate  his  leaving  Cambridge  until  all  his  terms  had  been  kept. 

About  the  same  time  Francis  Bacon  offered  to  produce  a  masque 
for  Lord  Burleigh.  So  the  young  Lord  had  at  least  the  opportunities 
of  seeing  dramatic  performances  other  than  those  of  his  own  College. 

The  young  student  had  not  passed  these  years  of  his  life  without 
hearing  something  of  the  great  national  and  European  events.  He 
would  know  of  the  mysterious  wooing  of  Elizabeth  by  the  Due 
d'Anjou,  of  his  brother's  death  and  his  succession,  of  his  arrested 
courtship  inherited  by  the  Due  d'Alen^on;  and  his  mind  would 
draw  his  own  conclusions  from  the  results.  He  would  hear  of  the 
doings  of  the  Scottish  Queen  from  both  sides — from  the  most  en- 
thusiastic admirers  and  the  most  unfriendly  critics.  He  would  hear 
of  the  undeserved  execution  of  Edward  Arden  of  Park  Hall,  on  a 
charge  of  supposed  conspiracy ;  of  the  real  conspiracy  of  Francis 
Throgmorton,  abetted  by  some  of  those  who,  before  he  was  born, 
had  been  imprisoned  in  the  Tower  along  with  his  father.  He  would 
gather  suggestions  of  the  increasing  determination  of  the  Pope  to 
regain  his  toll  of  Peter's  Pence  from  England ;  of  the  lazy  pre- 
parations of  Philip  II  of  Spain  to  invade  England;  of  the  exciting 
stories  of  Sir  Francis  Drake's  dashing  and  successful  exploits  in  the 
West  Indies  and  at  the  very  gates  of  Spain;  of  Sir  Philip  Sidney's 
escape  from  Court  with  his  beloved  Fulke  Greville,  to  take 
possession  of  his  grant  of  300,000  acres  of  land  in  Virginia  "yet 
to  be  discovered";  of  their  flight  to  Plymouth  to  embark  with  Sir 
Francis  Drake1;  of  Elizabeth's  parental  chase  after  them  to  bring 
them  back  to  Court  on  their  allegiance;  of  Sir  Philip's  permission  to 
go,  under  his  uncle  the  Earl  of  Leicester,  to  the  Low  Country  wars, 
there  to  be  wounded,  and,  denied  the  loving  attendance  of  Fulke 
Greville,  to  die  after  lingering  pain,  embalmed  for  ever  in  the 
hearts  of  poets  in  the  odour  of  romance.  He  would  hear  also 
of  the  urgent  collection  of  the  Subsidies  to  secure  the  sinews 
of  war.  His  property  does  not  seem  to  have  been  assessed,  but 

1  This  must  have  been  in  September,  1585. 


30       THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON    [CH. 

the  contrasts  in  the  assessments  of  the  people  among  whom  he 
moved  are  both  mysterious  and  interesting.  So  I  give  a  small 
selection. 

Lord  Burleigh  entered  his  lands  as  worth  200  marks,  and  was 
assessed  at  £8.  17*.  yd.  in  1586;  Robert,  Earl  of  Leicester,  owned 
£300  in  land  and  paid  £20,  as  did  Edward,  Earl  of  Rutland,  on  26th 
May,  1587;  Viscount  Montague  had  £500  worth  of  land,  for  which 
he  paid  £33.  6s.  8<£,  the  same  sum  as  Philip,  Earl  of  Arundel ; 
Henry,  Earl  of  Sussex,  had  only  200  marks  in  land  and  paid  the 
same  as  Burleigh;  Henry,  Earl  of  Pembroke,  paid  £40  on  £600 
worth  of  land;  William,  Earl  of  Worcester  on  £200  worth  paid 
£i  3.  6s.  8d. ;  Elizabeth,  Countess  of  Lincoln,  on  the  same  extent  of 
land  paid  the  same  subsidy;  Mary,  Countess  of  Southampton,  upon 
£120  worth  of  land  paid  £8;  Arthur,  Lord  Grey  of  Wilton,  on 
j£ioo  worth  paid  £6.  8s.  ^d.  The  need  for  preparedness  increased. 

The  young  Lord  would  hear,  horror-struck,  the  joy-bells  of  the 
churches  ringing  on  the  execution  of  the  Scottish  Queen,  whom  all 
Catholics  were  bound  to  consider  the  legal,  if  not  the  elected, 
Queen  of  England.  Then  Philip,  giving  up  further  delays,  hastened 
his  preparations  to  invade  in  his  own  right  and  with  his  own 
claims  to  the  Crown.  Southampton  would  see  his  guardian's 
brows  knit  in  anxious  thought  how  to  evade  the  consequences  of 
Henry  VI IPs  actions;  he  would  hear  of  the  massing  of  men  all 
over  the  country ;  he  would  fret  at  his  trammelled  youth,  desirous 
to  do  something,  to  win  "glory."  Was  he  present  with  the  Court 
at  the  Queen's  review  of  her  land  forces  at  Tilbury,  when  the  first 
nobleman  who  appeared  was  his  grandfather  (loyal  to  his  country, 
in  spite  of  his  faith)  leading  200  men  fed,  clothed,  and  armed  by 
himself  "to  see  that  no  stranger  should  land"?  With  him  were 
Anthony,  his  son  and  heir,  his  other  sons,  George  and  Henry,  some 
of  his  brothers,  and  a  "fair  young  child,"  all  mounted  on  horseback 
and  leading  their  bands,  to  shew  that  Montague  at  least  was  willing 
to  risk  his  all  in  the  Queen's  cause — and  that  "fair  child"  was 
Southampton's  own  cousin,  born  four  months  after  him  in  Cowdray 
Park!  The  example  of  Montague  had  a  weighty  influence  among 
loyal  Catholics  and  it  gave  profound  discouragement  to  the  Pope's 
allies.  We  know  this  through  "  A  copy  of  a  letter  left  by  the 
priest  Leigh  in  his  cell  when  he  was  taken  to  execution,  edited  and 


in]          ST  JOHN'S  COLLEGE,  CAMBRIDGE  31 

published  by  Richard  Field,  and  printed  for  him  by  J.  Vautrollier, 
in  Blackfriars."  We  do  not  know  whether  young  Southampton  in 
rivalry  fled  with  his  former  "  Committee  "  Lord  Howard,  to  be  taken 
aboard  his  man-of-war  on  the  great  occasion;  or  if  he  attempted 
to  move  some  of  his  younger  friends  who  had  secured  boats  to  rush 
to  the  sea  and  follow  Drake  to  victory.  He  would  have  no  money 
to  secure  a  boat  for  himself,  and  fatherless  youth  no  doubt  became 
bitter  to  him  for  awhile. 

There  was  a  certain  Mr  William  Harvey,  a  friend  of  his  mother's, 
who  prepared  to  go,  and  signalised  himself  at  sea.  How  the  boy 
would  envy  him.  It  may  be  well  to  introduce  him  formally  here, 
as  he  becomes  very  important  to  the  family  in  later  years. 

The  Thomas  Harvey1  of  Henry  VI  IPs  reign  had  four  sons,  John, 
Nicholas,  Francis,  and  Anthony,  The  second  son  distinguished 
himself  as  "  the  Valiant  Esquire,"  and  was  the  challenger  at  Some 
of  Henry's  VI IPs  jousts.  He  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Sir 
Thomas  Fitzwilliam  (widow  of  Sir  Thomas  Mauleverer),  by  whom 
he  had  issue  Sir  Thomas,  who  had  only  two  daughters.  Sir  Nicholas 
married  second  Bridget,  daughter  of  Sir  John  Wiltshire  (and  widow 
of  Sir  Richard  Wingfield).  They  had  issue  Sir  George  Harvey, 
Lieutenant  of  the  Tower,  and  Henry  Harvey  Esq. ;  the  latter 
married  Jane,  daughter  of  James  Thomas  of  Glamorgan,  and  his 
son  and  heir  was  this  William;  he  had  also  two  daughters.  Now  this 
William  seems  to  have  been  left  poor  and  without  influence ;  but 
he  was  capable,  hard-working,  and  ambitious.  He  had  travelled,  he 
had  served  in  the  Low  Countries,  he  had  kept  his  ears  and  eyes 
open  and  his  mouth  shut.  So  he  was  able  to  write  a  letter  to 
Elizabeth  on  the  2Oth  December,  15852,  giving  a  private  account  of 
the  keeping  of  the  Netherlands  and  of  Calais,  of  the  friends  on 
whom  she  might  reckon,  of  the  men  she  should  "decipher."  He 
advised  action  on  Sir  Thomas  Cecil's  part,  encouragement  of  the 
Colonies  in  Terra  Virginea,  and  the  increase  of  the  Navy.  He  stated 
the  amount  of  money  in  the  ship  taken  by  Sir  Richard  Grenville  as 
600,000  ducats  by  Register. 

You  may  quiet  King  Philip  by  Portugal  and  Barbary,  without  any  charge, 
in  order  to  get  possession  of  King  Philip's  purse,  the  cause  of  so  many  wars. 

1  Hasted's  Kent,  I.  136;  Collins'  Peerage,  G.  E.  C. 

2  Cotton  MS.  Galba,  c.  vnr.  222. 


32       THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON    [CH. 

Brancha  Leone,  a  Florentine  and  near  companion  of  Parries,  sometime  a 
follower  of  Sir  E.  Hobbies,  now  governing  the  French  Ambassador  is  a  person 
necessary  to  be  noted,  as  a  malicious  practiser,  poisoner,  and  intelligencer, 
near  of  kin  to  the  Bishop  of  Paris,  by  whom  he  is  here  mayntayned.  Thus, 
right  gracious  sovereign  in  obeying  your  commandment,  I  have  here  set 
downe  my  knowledge  in  the  premises,  commending  them  humbly  to  your 
Majesties  high  wisdome,  censure,  and  secrecy  wherewith  in  all  lowly  duetie 
I  furnish  you.  Your  Majesties  loyall  devoted  pore  servant 

W.  H. 

P.S.  It  may  please  your  Majestic  withal  to  make  a  Salamander  of  these 
my  papers  and  observations,  for  I  have  none  to  behold  or  trust  to  but 
yourself,  nor  after  your  life  any  assurance  in  earth  to  build  on.  Be  good  to 
me  therefore  in  tyme,  lest  I  perish  by  necessitie.  "  In  fide  et  sedulo  sit 
princeps  propensior  quam  in  caeteris." 

Now,  this  man  William  Harvey  had  his  chance  at  the  Armada 
time  and  took  it.  Though  Elizabeth  does  not  seem  to  have  rewarded 
him,  and  though  his  name  has  not  entered  into  the  official  or 
scholastic  histories  of  the  period,  he  was  shrouded  in  an  atmosphere 
of  romance  with  his  contemporaries1. 

Another  man  whom  Southampton  would  know  was  the  cousin  of 
his  cousin,  Anthony  Copley,  afterwards  to  be  mixed  up  with  Cobham 
and  Grey.  He  was  then  living  abroad,  for  the  sake  of  freedom  and 
religion.  He  would  have  liked  to  have  come  home  at  the  Armada — 
he  only  wanted  toleration  in  religion,  but  was  determined  to  keep  all 
foreign  powers  out  of  England.  He  was  a  minor  poet  and  wrote 
quaintly2. 

In  his  Answer  to  a  disjesutted  gentleman  (i.e.  his  cousin),  he  tells 
a  story3  that  probably  came  over  long  before  in  correspondence. 
"  Did  I  not  see,  after  our  firing  the  Spanish  Fleet  in  the  narrow 
seas,  the  young  Prince  of  Ascoli  at  his  fugitive  arrival  at  Dunkirk 
the  morrow  after  when  the  Duke  of  Parma  entertained  him  on  the 
Strond,  him  (I  say)  in  answer  to  the  Duke's  question  what  news  of 
the  Armado,  uncap  himself,  and  grining  towards  Heaven  swear  by 
it,  that  he  thought  not  onelie  all  the  foure  elements  were  Lutheran 
that  night,  and  all  the  morning,  but  also  God  Himself,  so 
blasphemous  was  his  Spanish  Spirit." 

1  Baker's  Chronicles,  2nd  edition.  Richard  Field's  pamphlet  of  the 
Jesuit's  letter. 

1  He  was  author  of  A  Fig  for  Fortune  and  Wits,  Fits,  and  Fancies 
»  p.  62. 


in)          ST  JOHN'S  COLLEGE,  CAMBRIDGE  33 

After  the  excitement  of  the  Armada  died  down,  Sir  Thomas 
Arundel  wrote  to  Lord  Burleigh  on  Oct.  25,  I5881;  the  letter 
begins:  "If  I  importune  your  Lordship  in  the  behalf  of  the 
Earl  of  Southampton  concerning  the  New  Forest  my  love  and 
care  of  this  young  Earl  enticeth  me — Beauly,  the  most  ancient 
house  that  he  hath  is  so  near  the  Forest... the  very  situation 
may  be  of  sufficient  force  to  persuade.  Your  Lordship  did  helpe 

the  Earl  of  Rutland,  in  his  nonage  to  the  Forest  of  Sherwood 

Your  Lordship  doth  love  him — Such  as  have  good  wills  together 
with  great  minds  are  not  so  soon  won  any  way  as  with  favour, 
neither  is  any  favour  so  thankfully  taken  and  so  long  remembered 
of  men,  as  that  which  they  receive  in  their  minority.  That  my  Lord 
of  Pembroke  (his  most  feared  co-rival)  having  neither  land  nor  house 
near  thereunto  should,  as  it  were  by  a  perpetuity,  bear  the  Forest 
from  him  in  his  own  sphere  and  joining  to  his  doors,  were  a  great 
discourtesy.  I  may  more  truly  say,  a  wrong. 

From  Ichell  25th  October,  1588." 

In  spite  of  all  these  distractions  Southampton  managed  to  do  good 
work  in  his  College. 

In  the  following  year  Southampton  took  his  degree — "  Reg.  Acad. 
Cantab.  Henricus  Wriothesley  Conies  Southampton  Cooptatus  in 
ordinem  Magistrorum  in  artibus  per  gratiam,  June  6th  1589,  St 
John's  College."2 

In  Burleigh 's  Diary  there  is  a  note  made  that  autumn: 

6th  October  1589  Henry  Co.  Southampton  erat  aetatis  16  annorum 
Edward  Co.  Bedford  erat  aetatis  15  annorum 
Roger  Co.  Rutland  erat  aetatis  1 3  annorum  3 

It  was  not  that  the  6th  of  October  was  the  birthday  of  all  three — 
it  was  only  that  of  Southampton  and  Rutland.  They  were  all 
Burleigh 's  wards.  I  think  he  was  comparing  their  ages  for  a  certain 
purpose.  Southampton,  having  already  graduated,  could  write  himself 
down  a  Master  in  Arts;  and  it  was  not  the  fault  of  his  guardian 
that  he  could  not  also  write  himself  "Benedick  the  married  man." 

1  Salisb.  Papers,  in.  365. 
1  University  Register. 

3  The  relative  ages  of  these  three  are  too  often  forgotten,  and  their 
strange  relations  to  each  other  in  later  years. 


s,  s. 


CHAPTER  IV 
PROPOSALS  FOR  MARRIAGE 

THE  story  of  Southampton's  life  for  the  next  few  years  has  not  been 
fully  followed  or  understood.  The  present  writer  has  sketched  it  in 
the  preface  to  her  edition  of  the  Sonnets^  in  The  Athenaum J,  and 
in  her  Shakespeare 's  Environment 2.  But  much  needs  yet  to  be  dis- 
covered. The  guardianship  of  a  royal  ward  at  that  time  generally 
included  what  was  technically  called  "his  marriage,"  that  is,  the 
right  to  choose  him  a  partner  for  life,  to  make  all  arrangements, 
and  to  receive  a  sum  of  money  for  the  transaction.  There  were 
certain  limitations  as  to  rank,  property,  and  suitability  of  the  proposed 
lady,  but  mutual  affection  was  rarely  considered  as  a  real  or  a 
necessary  condition.  Burleigh  had  been  successful  in  marrying  his 
children  into  noble  families.  He  was  very  pleased  when  he  wrote  in 
his  Diary  that  the  Earl  of  Oxford  wished  to  marry  his  daughter 
Anne.  But  it  had  been  an  unhappy  marriage,  and  his  daughter  had 
died  on  June  5th,  1588.  The  careful  statesman  was  now  doing  his 
best  to  ensure  her  daughter  Elizabeth  a  happier  life.  She  had  been 
born  on  July  2nd,  1575,  and  was  therefore  of  suitable  enough  age 
for  Southampton.  Burleigh 's  own  wife,  Lady  Mildred,  "fell  asleep 
in  Westminster"  on  April  5th,  1589,  and  was  buried  beside  her 
daughter,  the  Countess  of  Oxford,  in  Westminster.  Lord  Oxford  was 
careless  as  a  family  man,  and  Burleigh  felt  himself  bound  to  be 
mother  and  grandmother  to  the  girl,  as  well  as  grandfather.  Now, 
he  really  liked  his  brilliant  young  ward,  he  trusted  him,  he  approved 
of  his  property  and  the  dwellings  he  would  have  to  live  in  on  his 
coming  of  age — a  little  ready  money  put  into  them  as  the  bride's 
dower  would  make  them  quite  satisfactorily  comfortable  to  settle 
in  for  life.  There  is  no  allusion  at  any  time  to  the  inclinations  of  the 
young  lady,  but  the  matter  had  evidently  been  well  discussed  with 
the  youth  and  with  his  immediate  relations.  They  had  agreed  readily 
enough;  the  bridegroom  elect's  one  idea  was  how  to  postpone 
decision. 

1  March  igth  and  26th,  1898.  *  p.  135. 


CH.  iv]          PROPOSALS  FOR  MARRIAGE  35 

Many  writers  have  described  Southampton  as  a  lascivious  youth; 
but  there  is  not  the  slightest  authority  for  such  a  statement. 
The  facts,  which  have  been  twisted  so  as  to  support  that  opinion, 
are  capable  of  a  very  different  explanation,  as  will  be  seen  here- 
after. 

We  must  remember  that  he  had  no  evil  predisposing  tendencies 
from  hereditary  influences.  His  grandfather  Southampton,  whatever 
his  other  faults  may  have  been,  was  noted  for  conjugal  devotion.  His 
father,  it  is  true,  had  at  the  end  of  his  disappointed  life  lost  his  early 
affection  for  his  wife;  but  the  only  authority  we  have  concerning 
him  was  that  he  had  kept  his  vows  of  wedlock.  His  grandfather 
Browne  was  noted  for  the  chastity  of  his  thought,  speech,  and 
behaviour;  he  was  indeed  "a  very  perfect,  gentle  knight."1  In  regard 
to  his  environment  and  training,  Burleigh  was  a  very  safe  guide  in 
questions  of  morality,  and  he  kept  a  watchful  eye  over  the  youth's 
motions  for  his  own  sake.  Further,  the  young  man  was  full  of 
occupation.  He  had  to  read  law  at  Gray's  Inn  to  please  his 
guardian;  to  make  a  figure  at  Court  to  please  the  Queen;  to  prepare 
for  war  in  order  to  be  able,  if  need  be,  to  defend  his  country;  and 
to  study  literature  and  the  arts  to  please  himself.  So  he  had  no 
temptation  through  idleness  and  ennui.  Through  all  his  interests 
there  floated  the  memory  of  his  College  paper — "All  men  are  incited 
to  study  through  the  hope  of  glory  \"  Since  the  death  of  his  mother's 
relative  and  good  friend,  the  Earl  of  Leicester,  he  had  come  more 
into  contact  with  Leicester's  stepson,  the  Earl  of  Essex.  To  South- 
ampton Essex  became  the  ideal  knight,  to  whom  he  was  willing  to 
become  esquire,  or  even  page.  Southampton's  first  love  came  in  the 
shape  of  a  man ;  his  heart  had  no  room  as  yet  for  love  of  woman. 
The  youth  had  no  active  disinclination  to  the  Lady  Elizabeth,  but 
he  had  a  very  strong  disinclination  to  be  fettered  by  any  ties  that 
did  not  leave  him  free  to  follow  his  own  career.  I  do  not  know 
exactly  on  what  terms  he  stood  with  Burleigh  in  regard  to  his 
granddaughter.  Southampton  may  have  said  that  possibly  in 
some  remote  future  he  might  learn  to  love  her.  His  mother  and 
grandfather  evidently  appreciated  the  advantages  of  this  match. 
Theirs  was  but  a  new  nobility  compared  with  the  Veres;  their  faith 
was  a  proscribed  faith,  and  what  a  shield  the  Lord  Treasurer  could 
1  Life  of  Magdalen  Lady  Montagite. 

3—2 


36       THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

be  to  them  against  the  most  unpleasant  consequences  of  conscientious 
devotion !   Everything  waited  for  the  bridegroom-elect. 

Burleigh  had  become  suspicious  at  his  delay  and  feared  a  possible 
rival.  He  was  not  accustomed  to  be  trifled  with,  and  said  so.  The 
following  straightforward  letter  from  Sir  Thomas  Stanhope1 
removed  one  of  his  causes  of  annoyance. 

Ryght  honorable,  my  humble  duty  premised,  yt  may  please  the  same  to 
understand,  that  of  late  I  have  been  advysed  by  some  of  my  friends  about 
how  it  should  be  reported,  that  whilst  I  lay  in  London  I  sought  to  have 
the  Earl  of  Southampton  in  marriage  for  my  daughter;  that  I  offered  with 
her  £3000  in  money  and  £300  by  yere  for  threescore  yeres  &c.  Even  true  it 
is  my  Lord,  that  I  have  been  beholding  to  my  Lady  of  Southampton  of  long 
tyme,  and  so  was  I  to  my  Lord  her  late  husband  during  his  lyf,  and  therfor 
bothe  I  and  my  wyfe  did  willingly  our  dutyes  to  see  her  when  helth  did 
permitte.  Unto  her  Ladyship  I  appele  yff  she  can  apeche  me  of  such  sim- 
plicity or  presumption  as  to  intrude  myselfe,  or  of  the  meaning  of  so  treach- 
erous a  part  towarde  your  honor,  having  evermore  found  myself  so  bound 
unto  you  as  I  have  donne,  I  name  it  treachery,  because  I  heard  before  then, 
you  intended  a  matche  that  waye  to  the  Lady  Vayre  (Vere)  to  whom  you 
know  also,  I  am  akin.  And  my  Lord,  I  confesse  that  talking  with  the  Countess 
of  Southampton  thereof  she  told  me  you  had  spoken  to  her  in  that  behalf. 
I  replyed  she  should  doo  well  to  take  holde  of  it,  for  I  knew  not  whear  my 
Lord  her  sonne  should  be  better  bestowed.  Herself  could  tell  what  a  stay 
you  would  be  to  him  and  his,  and  for  perfect  experience  did  teache  her  how 
beneficial  you  had  been  unto  that  Lady's  father  (though  by  hym  litteU 
deserved).  She  answered  I  sayd  well,  and  so  she  thought,  and  would  in 
good  fayth  doo  her  best  in  the  cause,  but  sayth  she  I  doo  not  fynd  a  dis- 
position in  my  sonne  to  be  tyed  as  yett,  what  wilbe  hereafter  time  shall 
trye,  and  no  want  shalbe  found  on  my  behalfe.  I  think  once  or  twyse  such 
like  wordes  we  had  and  not  to  any  other  effecte,  which  I  referre  to  her 
Ladyship's  creditt  to  tell,  who  I  thinke  will  no  ways  dissemble  with  your 
Honor  in  any  cawse.  For  other  part  of  honorable  curtasyes  both  to  my  wyfe 
and  dowghter  I  found  myself  much  bownd  to  her  for  she  bade  us  twyse  to 
her  house.  And  herself  having  occasion  to  come  with  my  Lord  her  son  to 
Mr  Harvies'  house  of  the  warde,  I  did  all  that  in  me  was  to  invite  them  to 
a  simple  supper  at  my  house,  being  the  next  house  adjoyning.  And  this, 
most  honorable,  hathe  been  all  my  proceeding  that  way,  for  yf  it  can  be 
proved  I  made  any  attempt,  or  had  the  thought  of  anything  that  way,  let 
me  lose  my  credit  with  your  Honor,  and  with  all  the  world  besydes,  whiche 
truly  I  would  not  doe  for  the  wourthe  of  the  best  marriage  that  ever  my 
daughter  shall  have,'  and  yet  Sir,  I  love  her  very  well,  and  have  given  her 

1  D.S.S.P.  Eliz.  xxxm.  n. 


iv]  PROPOSALS  FOR  MARRIAGE  37 

advice  accordingly,  and  would  be  as  glad  to  bestowe  her  thereafter.  Thus 
much  my  very  good  Lord,  in  discharge  of  my  humble  duty,  I  have  presumed 
as  beforesayd,  and  I  shall  (wish)  yor  Honor  fynd  me  faytheful,  in  all  the 
service  I  can,  though  not  able  to  be  thankeful  as  I  desire.  So  praying  for 
the  continuance  of  yor  good  helthe  and  long  lyfe  I  humbly  take  my  leave. 
Shelf ord,  this  ifth  of  July  1590.  Yor  Honors  humble  cousin  to  command 

(Sir)  THOMAS  STANHOPE 

The  summer  passed  on,  and  the  Queen  did  not  reach  Cowdray 
in  her  progress.  Montague  was  invited  instead  to  come  and  see  the 
Queen  at  Oatlands1.  Lord  Burleigh  was  puzzled.  He  could  not 
understand  any  intelligent  young  man  in  his  senses  refusing  such 
an  eligible  offer.  He  had  a  good  long  talk  over  the  matter  with 
Lord  Montague  when  he  was  at  Oatlands,  and  gave  him  advice  how 
to  act  when  he  had  his  grandson  alone  with  him. 

That  nobleman  wrote  him  as  soon  as  he  could  after  he  got  home. 

Aly  very  good  Lord  2, 

As  I  well  remember  your  late  speach  to  me  at  Otelands,  touching 
my  Lord  of  Southampton,  so  I  have  nott  forgotten,  so  carefully  as  I  might, 
and  orderly  as  I  could,  to  acquaint  first  his  mother,  and  then  himself  there- 
withal, his  Lordship  late  being  with  me  at  Cowdray.  And  being  desirowse 
as  orderly  as  I  could,  and  as  effectually  as  I  was  able  to  satisfye  your  Lordship 
of  my  knowledge  in  the  matter,  I  thought  itt  best  likely  of,  and  I  hope 
most  liking  to  your  Lordship  to  returne  unto  you  what  I  find.  First  my 
daughter  affirms  upon  her  faith  and  honor  that  she  is  not  acquaynted  with 
any  alteration  of  her  sonnes  mynd  from  this  your  grandchild.  And  wee  have 
layd  abrode  unto  hym  both  the  comodityes  and  hindrances  likely  to  grow 
unto  him  by  chaunge;  and  indeede  receave  to  our  perticular  speach  this 
generall  answer  that  your  Lordship  was  this  last  winter  well  pleased  to  yeld 
unto  him  a  further  respite  of  one  yere  to  enshure  resolution  in  respecte  of 
his  younge  yeres.  I  answered  that  this  yere  which  he  speaketh  of  is  nowe 
almost  upp  and  therefore  the  greater  reason  for  your  Lordship  in  honor 
and  in  nature  to  see  your  child  well  placed  and  provided  for,  wherunto  my 
Lord  gave  me  this  answere  and  was  content  that  I  shoulde  imparte  the  same 
to  your  Lordship.  And  this  is  the  most  as  towching  the  matter  I  can  now 
acquaint  yor  Lordship  with.  The  care  of  his  personne,  and  the  circumstances 
of  him,  I  can  butt  most  effectually  recommend  to  your  Lordship's  ruling. 
I  mean  God  willing,  and  my  dawghter  also,  at  the  beginning  of  the  term  to 
be  in  London,  and  then  by  your  Lordship's  favour  will  more  particularly 
discourse  with  you,  and  will  be  sure  to  frame  myself  (God  assisting  me)  to 
your  Lordship's  liking  in  this  matter;  and  in  the  mean  tyme  require  the 

1  Loseley  Papers.  *  D.S.S.P.  Eliz.  xxxur.  71. 


38       THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON    [CH. 

continuance  of  your  Lordship's  very  good  will  and  opinion,  and  being  lothe 
to  be  tediowse  wish  to  your  Lordship  all  honor  health  and  happiness,  From 
my  house  at  Horsley  igih  September  1590,  Your  Lordship's  assured  to 

command 

ANTHONY  BROWNE. 

Lord  Montague  was  probably  at  West  Horsley,  taking  possession. 
His  father  had  built  it  for  his  second  wife,  and  had  interwoven  the 
arms  of  the  Geraldines  with  his  own,  as  he  left  it  for  her  to  dwell 
in;  which  she  did. 

She  probably  died  in  that  house,  and  certainly  was  buried  in 
that  year1.  She  would  be  of  a  strange  interest  to  the  young  Earl,  for 
she  was  Elizabeth,  Countess  of  Lincoln — not  only  "the  fair 
Geraldine"  of  Surrey's  Sonnets,  but  a  connection  by  marriage  of 
his  own.  While  still  a  girl  of  15,  she  had  married  the  second  Sir 
Anthony  Browne  (not  by  any  means  so  old  a  man  as  her,  or  as  his, 
biographers  make  out,  as  I  have  shewn  in  his  Life)2.  Some  time  after 
his  death  she  married  Sir  Edward  Clinton,  afterwards  Earl  of 
Lincoln,  and  they  lived  much  at  her  dower  house  at  West  Horsley. 
As  Viscount  Montague's  sister  married  her  brother  Gerald,  Earl  of 
Kildare,  there  was  a  double  connection,  and  a  certain  family 
acquaintance.  In  her  will  she  desired  little  expense  in  her 
funeral,  as  expenses  do  no  good  to  the  dead,  and  sometimes 
hinder  the  living.  She  left  to  the  Queen  her  emerald  ring;  to  the 
Earl  of  Kildare  her  best  bed  and  other  remembrances;  "to  the 
Lord  Montague  the  six  pieces  of  hangings  of  the  Story  of  Hercules 
which  usually  hang  in  my  great  chamber  at  Horsley,"  and  all  her 

1  Beside  her  second  husband,  the  Earl  of  Lincoln,  in  St  George's  Chapel, 
Windsor.  All  authorities  are  wrong  in  the  date  of  her  death,  even  G.  E.  C., 
who  says  she  made  her  will  in  March  1589,  proved  May  1589.  I  knew  this 
to  be  impossible,  for  I  had  seen  a  letter  of  hers  among  the  Loseley  Papers 
about  poaching  in  the  Park,  dated  8th  December  1589,  with  her  clear 
beautiful  signature  shewing  no  sign  of  age  or  illness.  Another  letter  there 
from  Lord  Howard  backing  up  her  application  was  dated  the  gth  of 
December  1589.  I  went  to  Somerset  House  and  found  her  will  (Somerset 
House,  21  Drury).  To  my  surprise  the  probate  was  dated  March  i3th  1589, 
so 'that  I  saw  it  must  have  been  by  the  old  calendar.  But  on  reading  the 
will  I  found  that  it  had  been  originally  copied  as  having  been  drawn  up  on 
i5th  April,  3oth  Eliz.,  which  would  be  1588;  but  a  tiny  interpolation  of 
"  one  and "  made  it  31  Eliz.,  that  is,  1589.  It  had  not  been  finally  corrected, 
hence  the  errors.  But,  as  it  was  quite  evident  that  a  will  could  not  have 
been  proved  in  March  1589  if  it  were  written  in  April  of  that  year,  the 
officer  in  charge  has  now  corrected  it.  So  that  March  1589  should  read 
1589-90.  *  See  Addenda. 


iv]  PROPOSALS  FOR  MARRIAGE  39 

brewing  implements  and  the  brewing  house  there.  To  Lieutenant 
Edward  Fitzgerald  of  her  Majesty's  Pensioners  and  to  her  niece 
Lettice  Coppinger  she  left  remembrances,  to  her  sister  Margaret 
substantial  aid;  also  "to  my  nephew  Francis  Ainger  and  his  wife 
Douglas.  To  Sir  William  More  (of  Loseley)  5  pieces  of  hangings  of 
the  story  of  Abraham,  and  to  my  cousin  George  More  5  pieces  at 
Horsley.  To  Sir  Thomas  Heneage  one  piece  of  plate  worth  £20, 
and  to  Mr  Roger  Manners  one  piece  worth  £i  5."  She  speaks  of  her 
daughters,  but  they  must  have  been  her  stepdaughters.  Her  exe- 
cutors were  to  be  her  cousin  Sir  Henry  Grey,  her  nephew  Gerald 
Fitzgerald,  and  her  nephew  Francis  Ainger;  her  overseers  Sir 
Christopher  Hatton  and  Lord  Cobham. 

Till  the  end  of  1 590  Southampton  was  far  too  busily  occupied 
to  think  much  of  such  trifles  as  love-making,  or  of  such  plans  as 
those  of  matrimony.  He  knew  that  the  Queen  was  yielding  in  her 
foreign  policy  and  that  she  was  about  to  send  help  to  Henry  IV  of 
France,  this  time  under  the  Earl  of  Essex.  The  form  of  "glory" 
Southampton  sought  was  to  be  had  in  following  this  brilliant  leader, 
and  he  was  trying  to  make  himself  fit  for  the  duty.  Fencing  and 
the  military  arts  would  absorb  as  much  of  his  time  as  he  dared.  For 
some  reason  he  found  himself  in  Southampton1  on  gth  January, 
1590-1,  for  on  that  date  the  Corporation  granted  him  the  freedom 
of  the  city.  It  is  quite  likely  that  he  slipped  over  to  France  under 
his  own  sails.  There  is  no  doubt  that  this  unexpected  journey  was 
something  of  the  nature  of  an  escapade;  he  hoped  to  surprise  oppor- 
tunity by  being  in  advance  of  refusal.  It  was  not  his  fault  that 
Essex's  help  was  delayed.  We  can  best  realise  the  situation  from  his 
letter  to  Essex,  a  remarkable  one  for  a  youth  aged  1 7  years  and  less 
than  6  months. 

Though  I  have  nothing  to  write  about  worth  your  reading,  yet  can  I  not 
let  pass  this  messenger  without  a  letter,  be  it  only  to  continue  the  profession 
of  service  which  I  have  heretofore  verbally  made  unto  your  Lordship,  which 
howsoever  in  itself  it  is  of  small  value,  my  hope  is,  seeing  it  wholly  proceede 
from  a  true  respect  borne  to  your  own  worth,  and  from  one  who  hath  no 
better  present  to  make  you  than  the  offer  of  himself  to  be  disposed  of  by 
your  commandment,  your  Lordship  will  be  pleased  in  good  part  to  accept 
it,  and  ever  afford  me  your  good  opinion  and  favour,  of  which  I  shall  be 

1  Southampton  Corporation  Books,  vol.  III. 


40       THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON    [CH. 

exceedingly  proud,  endeavouring  myself  always  with  the  best  means  to 
deserve  it.  As  I  shall  have  opportunity  to  send  into  England  I  will  be  bold 
to  trouble  your  Lordship  with  my  letter,  in  the  mean  time  wishing  your 
fortune  may  even  prove  answerable  to  the  greatness  of  your  own  mind, 
I  take  my  leave  &c.  Dieppe  2nd  March  (i  590-1)*, 

He  may  have  looked  long  over  the  sea  from  the  Plage  du  Nord 
at  Dieppe,  or  from  its  Castle  on  the  steep  fa/aise;  but  no  Essex  came, 
and  any  letter  that  came  could  only  be  a  refusal  of  his  generous 
offer.  Essex  himself  was  in  trouble  with  the  Queen  about  his  own 
marriage  with  the  widow  of  Sir  Philip  Sidney,  and  he  would  not 
risk  offending  her  farther  by  taking  possession  of  the  person  of  a  royal 
ward  without  permission.  The  best  he  could  do  for  Southampton, 
then,  was  to  hurry  him  home  and  to  keep  his  trip  and  his  letter  as 
secret  as  it  might  be. 

Here  must  be  introduced,  in  parenthesis,  the  present  writer's 
theory  of  Southampton's  life,  based  upon  long  work  and  logical 
inferences. 

fit  seems  most  likely  that  when  Southampton  was  ordered  home 
from  Dieppe,  he  was  not  only  disappointed  but  moody  and  petulant. 
To  distract  his  thoughts,  he  went  (as  we  are  told  he  afterwards  did 
in  like  case)  to  the  theatre  every  day,  first  to  see  a  play,  then  to 
hear  a  play,  and  then  to  study  the  art  of  the  actor.  No  suggestion 
is  here  offered  as  to  the  date  of  the  first  time  Southampton 
heard  of  Shakespeare,  as  something  different  from  the  ordinary  run 
of  players;  and  no  date  can  be  assigned  to  the  circumstances  under 
which  he  first  spoke  to  the  player.  Shakespeare  says  it  was  "in  the 
Spring,"2  and  this  present  spring  of  1591  best  suits  the  lives  of 
both  peer  and  player.  It  seems  most  likely  that  Southampton 
introduced  himself,  willing  the  player  to  come  to  him,  because  he 
wanted,  while  thanking  him  for  a  good  representation,  to  find  fault 
with  him  on  some  minor  points,  perhaps  in  his  accent,  his  gesture, 
his  posing,  or  in  the  play  itself.  He  was  in  the  habit  of  giving  good 
advice  about  their  business  to  all  the  players,  as  is  often  the  way 
with  amateurs.  But  the  answers  of  this  man  impressed  him.  He  felt, 
by  a  subtle  intuition,  an  interest  in  him,  because  he  felt  that  the  poet 
also  was  suffering  something  of  what  he  suffered,  rebellion  against 

1  Salisb.  Papers,  iv.  96. 

2  See  Preface  to  my  edition  of  the  Sonnets. 


iv]  PROPOSALS  FOR  MARRIAGE  41 

his  fate  and  its  limitations.  He  felt  he  must  have  a  private  talk  with 
this  "man  from  Stratford,"  and  took  him  home  with  him  to  supper. 
And  this  was  not  once  or  even  twice.  They  had  each  met  the  other 
in  a  psychic  moment  in  their  lives,  and  the  player  brought  a  new 
interest  into  Southampton's  life.  He  had  never  before  met  one  of 
these  "puppets"  who  was  able  to  recast  and  alter  his  play-books  to 
suit  his  own  notions;  he  pressed  his  conceits  and  wishes  upon  the 
poet's  acceptance.  Shakespeare  was  not  likely  to  have  ever  had  so 
intelligent  a  critic  rising  up  to  him  from  amid  his  audience.  It 
was  one  of  the  poet's  practical  aims  to  please  his  hearers,  and  he 
did  not  turn  away  scornfully  from  the  young  lord's  suggestions, 
even  though  he  represented  but  a  small  fraction  of  the  theatre-goers. 
A  certain  amount  of  self- revelation  ensued  on  either  side;  their 
tastes,  their  beliefs,  their  opinions  harmonised  in  a  wonderful  way; 
and,  while  Shakespeare  cried  "Oh  for  my  sake  do  you  with  Fortune 
chide"  or 

When  in  disgrace  with  fortune  and  men's  eyes 

I  all  alone  beweep  my  outcast  state  x 

Southampton  tried  to  stimulate  his  ambition  to  higher  walks  of 
literature  than  the  dramatic  was  then  esteemed.  He  would  shew 
his  visitor  some  of  the  books  he  read  and  give  bright  analyses  of 
their  contents;  he  would  dwell  on  the  delights  of  pure  poetry  and 
the  lack  of  it  in  the  ordinary  popular  drama,  of  the  books  best 
likely  to  help — as  Sir  Philip  Sidney's  Art  of  Poesie^  Webbe's  book 
on  the  same,  Thomas  Wilson's  Art  of  Rhetoric;  and  he  might  be 
surprised  to  find  that  the  player  knew  both  of  the  latter.  Southampton 
would  encourage  the  rustic  actor  to  make  trial  of  his  powers  in 
the  new  form  of  verse  introduced  by  Wyat  and  Surrey  from  Italy; 
all  the  nobles  and  gentry  were  trying  their  skill  in  their  efforts  to 
turn  a  well-filed  line  to  rival  those  of  authors  preserved  in  the  book 
of  Songs  and  Sonettes.  Then,  being  tired  of  indoor  air,  he  would 
swear  Shakespeare  his  servant  for  the  day,  mount  him,  and  lead 
him  off  to  Hampstead  Heights  2,  by  the  Wych  Elm  grove  (old  then, 
but  not  extinct  even  yet),  up  past  the  Well  to  the  crest  of  the  Horse 

1  Sonnets  cxi  and  xxix. 

2  We  know  from  the  State  Papers  that  the  Spanish  Ambassador  at  that 
time  had  his  house  upon  the  hill,  and   many  came  and  went  secretly  to 
him.    So  there  was  always  a  little  curiosity  as  to  the  intentions  of  those 
who  went  in  that  direction. 


42       THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON    [CH. 

Shoe  Hill,  where  he  would  fling  himself  down  on  the  heath,  drink 
in  the  pure  air,  and  glory  in  the  extensive  views.  Then  came  more 
heart  to  heart  talks  than  could  take  place  in  rooms,  and  both  went 
refreshed  to  their  homes.  Sometimes  the  peer  would  ask  the  player 
to  supper  with  him  after  the  play;  he  was  not  always  alone  then, 
but  it  gave  Shakespeare  a  chance  of  listening  to  the  tones  in  which 
upper  class  equals  addressed  each  other,  to  their  forms  of  gossip,  to 
their  methods  of  criticism.  Southampton  would  always  bring  them 
back  to  his  favourite  Colin  Clout^  Thomas  Watson's  Passionate 
Century^  the  Faerie  Queene^  Sir  Philip  Sidney's  Arcadia^  and  his 
Astrophel  and  Stella,  just  then  coming  through  the  press.  And 
among  the  young  nobles,  but  somewhat  apart,  would  sit  Master 
William  Harvey,  of  Armada  fame,  silent,  like  Shakespeare,  and 
willing  to  hear.  My  theory  is  that  he  was  the  man  who  suggested 
to  Shakespeare  that,  if  he  wanted  to  please  the  young  noble's  friends, 
he  might  weave  some  of  the  arguments  of  Arcadia  into  Sonnets 
(which  Southampton  was  so  anxious  that  he  should  try);  for  it 
would  be  greatly  for  the  good  of  all  that  the  young  Earl  should 
yield  to  Burleigh's  wishes,  and  marry  his  granddaughter. 

These  feasts  of  reason  were  not  in  Southampton's  "Lodgings  in 
the  Strand,"  nor  in  Burleigh  House,  nor  Arundel  House;  but 
on  odd  occasions  at  Southampton  House  in  Holborn — where 
then  most  probably  there  hung  his  mother's  portrait  (now  at 
Welbeck).  Shakespeare's  time  was  not  wholly  his  own ;  beside  the 
playing  time,  there  were  rehearsals,  consultations  on  the  one  hand 
to  get  through,  and  on  the  other  hand  the  alteration  of  old  plays. 
There  would  be  no  time  for  him  to  become  weary  of  his  young  friend. 

To  be  sure,  some  people  think  that  Southampton  was  not  the 
young  friend  addressed  in  the  Sonnets.  Various  other  friends  have 
been  suggested,  but  the  only  theory  which  has  held  the  ear  of  the 
public  for  any  time  is  Mr  Thomas  Tyler's  "  Herbert-Fitton 
Theory,"  that  is,  that  Lord  William  Herbert,  afterwards  the  Earl 
of  Pembroke,  was  the  friend  addressed1.  That  theory  assumes 
that  the  whole  of  the  Sonnets  must  have  been  written  after 
1598,  when  Lord  Herbert  first  appeared  at  Court,  at  the  age 
of  eighteen.  But  that  means  that  Shakespeare  was  at  once 

1  I  have  treated  this  in  full  both  in  my  Preface  to  the  Sonnets,  and  also 
in  my  Shakespeare's  Environment,  p.  144. 


iv]  PROPOSALS  FOR  MARRIAGE  43 

introduced  to  him,  became  intimate  with  him,  and  began  to 
write  sonnets  to  him  in  which  he  ascribes  to  Lord  Herbert  not 
only  inspiration  but  "  education  out  of  rude  ignorance,"  and  the 
guidance  of"  his  pupil  pen,"  after  he  had  written  not  only  both  of 
his  poems,  but  A  Midsummer  Night's  Dream,  Romeo  and  Juliet^  and 
The  Merchant  of  Venice.  It  assumes  that  he  had  warmed  up  for  this 
second  young  Lord  the  same  feelings  which  he  had  assured  another 
he  would  never  change — not  only  the  same  feelings,  but  the  same 
phrases,  which  he  had  already  publish ed,"Lord  of  my  Love,"  etc.  We 
are  asked  to  believe  that  the  three-year  Sonnet  Story  had  happened, 
and  that  Meres  had  had  time  to  read  them,  to  put  a  reference  to 
them  in  his  book,  to  get  his  book  finished,  passed  by  the  censor, 
consigned  to  the  printer  and  registered  to  him,  within  six  months ! 
The  whole  beauty  of  the  Sonnets  dies  out  before  the  thought. 
Nothing  in  the  description  of  Shakespeare's  youth  suits  Herbert. 
He  was  not  the  sole  hope  of  his  great  House,  as  he  had  both  a  father 
and  a  brother;  he  was  not  fair,  but  dark,  and  he  never  wore  long 
curling  locks.  Sonnets  had  become  commonplace  by  the  date  of 
1598.  Shakespeare's  cannot  be  read  as  a  hackneyed  imitation  of 
past  fashions.  They  have  all  the  verve  of  a  fresh  impulse,  all  the 
ideal  transport  of  a  newly  discovered  power,  all  the  original  treat- 
ment of  a  new  method  of  art  expression.  The  twined  threads  of 
biography  and  autobiography  are  there  on  which  to  string  the  pearls 
of  Shakespeare's  thought.  And  these  twined  threads  can  only  be 
woven  to  fit  Henry,  the  third  Earl  of  Southampton.  Shakespeare 
had  no  second  dream;  all  his  songs  and  praises  were  addressed 

To  one,  of  one,  still  such,  and  ever  so. 

This  was  but  a  variant  of  Southampton's  motto  "Ung  par  tout, 
tout  par  ung."  Perhaps  the  most  telling  are  the  phrases  of  personal 
description : 

Thou  art  thy  mother's  glass  and  she  in  thee 
Recals  the  lovely  April  of  her  prime1. 

The  portrait  of  Southampton's  mother  can  still  be  seen;  it 
determines  Shakespeare's  painting.  His  young  friend  wore  long 
locks  curling  like  buds  of  marjoram;  he  was  beautiful,  but  his  special 
beauty  was  in  his  eyes,  twin  stars,  that  governed  his  poet's  path. 

1  Sonnet  xui. 


44       THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON    [CH  . 

The  youth  was  at  the  time  the  Sonnets  were  written  "the  world's 
fresh  ornament,"  a  "child  of  state"  (or  royal  ward),  being  under  age, 
and  the  sole  hope  of  his  great  house.  He  was  interested  in  heraldry 
and  astrology,  acquainted  with  law  and  philosophy,  and  devoted  to 
poetry.  He  was  kind  and  sympathetic,  though  critical.  Now,  it  is 
not  desired  to  assert  that  the  later  Sonnets  are  prose  diaries  of  events; 
they  are  sparks  struck  off  from  some  fervour,  echoes  of  some  con- 
versation; they  often  contradict  each  other;  there  is  a  constant 
clearing  up  of  misunderstandings,  and  one  can  find  many  of  the 
situations  painted  in  Shakespeare's  plays.  Perhaps,  more  than  we 
realise,  the  Sonnets  give  the  key  to  the  plays.] 

Meanwhile,  though  he  tried,  Southampton  could  not  forget  his 
dreams  of  foreign  service;  he  heard  all  about  Lord  Essex  and  his 
doings.  Burleigh  entered  in  his  Diary  the  main  points  to  be 
remembered.  It  would  be  as  well  to  record  them  in  toto  for  the 
next  few  months,  as  printed  at  the  end  of  Murdin's  State  Papers. 

July  1 9th  1591.  The  Queen  at  my  House  to  see  the  Erie  of  Essex'  horses 
in  Covent  Garden.  3000  men  appointed  to  be 
embarked  for  Diepe  to  serve  under  the  Erie  of  Essex. 

July  2 1  st.  The  Erie  of  Essex's  Commission  for  Normandy. 

August  3rd.         The  Erie  of  Essex  landed  at  Diepe. 

August  4th.  At  Guldeford.  Mr  H.  Killigrew  appointed  to  attend  the 
Erie  of  Essex  in  France. 

September.  Thomas  Leighton  sent  to  attend  the  Erie  of  Essex  in 
France. 

Oct.  1 8th.  The  Erie  of  Essex  took  his  leave  at  Richmond. 

October  24-th.      Roan  invested  by  Marshal  Biron  and  the  Erie  of  Essex. 

November  23rd.  The  Erie  of  Essex  came  to  Westminster  unlocked  for. 

Dec.  5th  The  Erie  of  Essex  returned  to  Normandy. 

Dec.  yth  Sir  Thomas  Leighton  sent  out  of  Guernsey  to  assist  the 

Erie  of  Essex  in  Normandy. 

February  1591-2.  Sixteen  hundred  new  men  sent  to  Normandy. 

And  still  Southampton  kept  out  of  it. 

By  comparing  this  Diary  with  the  Queen's  proceedings,  we  may 
notice  that,  as  soon  as  the  Earl  of  Essex  left  the  court,  she  began 
her  arrangements  for  her  summer  progress.  She  went  via  Sir 
William  More's  house  at  Loseley  to  Guildford,  and  there  she  sent 
a  messenger  after  Essex  into  France.  Southampton  would  now  be 
occupied  at  Court,  for  during  this  progress  the  Queen  had  arranged 


iv]  PROPOSALS  FOR  MARRIAGE  45 

at  last  to  visit  Cowdray  and  Titch field,  and  he  probably  would  be 
interested  in  plans  to  give  her  a  fit  reception  in  both  places. 

It  would  seem  from  a  letter  of  his  in  the  Loseley  Papers  that  his 
grandfather  had  already  sketched  the  device  of  which  he  told  Sir 
William  More.  But  he  would  want  some  one  to  write  it  up,  some 
company  of  men  to  play  it.  Now  Lord  Montague,  with  all  his 
wealth,  was  not  one  of  the  noblemen  known  to  have  a  company 
of  players  of  his  own.  This  left  him  all  the  more  likely  to  be  willing 
to  hire  men  from  the  metropolis,  some  of  the  companies  going  on 
their  summer  tours,  and  it  was  quite  as  likely  as  not  that  he  had  a 
selection  from  the  Burbage  Company  to  govern  and  train  local 
talent.  The  present  writer  looked  up  the  accounts  of  the  Treasurer 
of  the  Chamber  to  see  if  any  special  details  about  the  route  could 
be  found,  through  the  preliminary  expenses  of  the  gentlemen 
servants  and  assistants  who  were  always  sent  in  advance  of  her 
Majesty  to  make  her  loyal  subjects'  homes  fit  for  her  temporary 
sojourn  in  them.  Unluckily  three  lots  seemed  to  have  been  sent  at 
once,  to  suit  her  convenience,  so  we  cannot  from  them  reckon  the 
stages  of  the  progress  as  consecutive  steps  in  a  story.  However, 
they  do  tell  us  some  little  things  about  it1. 

In  August  1591  Simon  Bowyer  and  his  fellows  were  allowed  pay- 
ment for  preparing  Lord  Lumley's  house  at  Stanstede;  for  making 
ready  Sir  William  M  ore's  house  at  Loseley;  for  making  ready  a 
standing  for  the  Queen  in  Guildford  Park;  "for  making  ready  a 
dininghouse  at  Katharine  Hall";  "to  him  also  by  a  bill  for  ex- 
penses" "for  making  ready  my  Lord  Montague's  house  at  Cowdray 
for  her  Majestic,  6  dayes  in  August  1591 ;  To  the  same  for  making 
readye  the  Priorye  House  at  my  Lord  Montague's;  for  making 
ready  a  Lodge  in  the  North  Park,  for  her  Majesty  to  rest  as  she 
came  to  Cowdray;  for  making  ready  three  standings  for  her 
Majestic  at  the  Lord  Montague's";  for  making  ready  Mr  Richard 
Lewknor's  house  for  the  Queen  to  dine  in  between  Cowdray  and 
Chichester;  "To  making  ready  the  Earl  of  Sussex's  house  in 
Portsmouth ;  to  making  ready  a  Standing  outside  of  Portsmouth  to 
see  the  Soldiers."  "For  making  ready  at  Abberston...for  making 
ready  a  dining  house  at  Mr  Tichborne's  in  September... for  making 

1  Declared  accounts  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber,  Audit  Office, 
Bundle  385,  Roll  29. 


46       THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

ready  a  Dining  House  at  Mr  William  Wallop's  House  between 
Abberston  and  Fareley."  There  were  preparations  also  at  Bishops- 
walton,  at  the  Bishop  of  Winchester's  house  at  Winchester,  at  the 
Lord  of  Hertford's  house  at  Elverton,  and  a  dining  house  at  the 
Earl  of  Hertford's. 

The  expenses  then  go  back  to  accounts  for  similar  work  done  by 
others  under  Richard  Coningsby,  "for  making  ready  the  Church  at 
Chichester  in  August... also  Lord  Delawarre's  in  the  Hault;...Mr 
Marven's  house  at  Bramshott. .  .a  dininghouse  between  Bramshott 
and  Sir  Henry  Weston's.v, for  making  ready  a  House  at  Southamp- 
ton1 Sept.  1 591;... at  Bagshott  on  her  return.  A  dininghouse  at 
Fayrethorne...Mr  Cornwallys'2  house  at  Horsley  in  August;... for 
making  ready  at  Mr  Tilney's  house3  at  Letherhyde  for  her  Majesty 
to  dine  at  in  August... a  dining  house  at  Mr  Weston's  at  Clandon." 

To  another  groom  of  the  Chamber  was  given  the  duty  of  making 
ready  at  Titchfield  in  September  "for  two  standings  for  her 
Majesty  at  Titchfield";  there  was  a  dining  house  between 
Titchfield  and  the  next  stage,  and  so  on  homewards. 

The  chief  events  of  the  royal  visit  to  Cowdray  are  told  in  a 
little  pamphlet  of  the  time,  printed  by  Thomas  Scarlet  (reprinted 
by  Mr  John  Nichols  in  the  Progresses  of  Queen  Elizabeth^  in.  90). 

There  we  find  that  the  Queen  arrived  on  I5th  August  at  Cow- 
dray  at  8  o'clock  "after  her  rest  in  the  North  Park"  (as  prepared 
for  her).  At  the  gate  of  Cowdray  the  porter,  in  presenting  the  key 
to  the  Queen  as  "the  wisest,  fairest,  and  most  fortunate  of  creatures," 
said  that  "the  owner's  tongue  is  the  key  to  his  heart,  and  his  heart 
the  lock  of  his  soul.  Therefore  what  he  speaks  you  may  constantly 
believe."  Her  Highness  took  the  key  and  said  she  u  would  answer 
for  him."  At  the  entrance  of  the  house  the  Queen  embraced  the 
Lady  Montague  and  the  Lady  Dormer  her  daughter;  the  Mistress 
of  the  House  (as  it  were  weeping  in  her  bosom)  said,  "  O  happie 
Time!  O  joyful  daie!" 

The  next  day  was  Sunday,  and  the  Queen,  or  at  least  the  story- 
writer,  managed  to  do  without  any  religious  service,  but  there  was 
a  substantial  breakfast  of  three  oxen  and  a  hundred  and  forty  geese 

1  Was  this  Bull  Place  in  Southampton,  the  Wriothesleys'  town  house? 

1  Southampton's  uncle,  Sir  Thomas  Cornwallis. 

3  Mr  Edmund  Tilney  was  the'n  Master  of  the  Revels. 


iv]  PROPOSALS  FOR  MARRIAGE  47 

with  et  ceteras,  which  would  occupy  some  time.  The  house  which 
had  been  begun  by  William,  Earl  of  Southampton,  Montague's  uncle, 
had  only  lately  been  completed  and  redecorated;  and  this  was  made 
an  excuse  for  the  lavish  expenditure  of  the  reception.  Probably  the 
Queen  would  inspect  the  Picture  Gallery,  containing  so  many 
portraits  of  people  she  had  known,  from  her  father  to  her  young 
brother.  There  was  enough  to  interest  a  resting  day  in  the  house. 

Monday  was  devoted  to  hunting,  which  was  ordered  by 
Henry  Browne,  Lord  Montague's  third  son,  Ranger  of  Windsor 
Forest.  It  may  be  noted  that  there  were  "three  standings"  made 
ready  for  the  Queen  in  Cowdray  Park 1. 

The  Queen  killed  three  deer, one  at  each  "standing," and  Mabel, 
Countess  of  Kildare,  sister  of  her  host,  the  only  lady  who  had  the 
courage  to  try,  killed  one.  It  is  said  that  the  Queen  was  displeased 
at  her  audacity  and  did  not  ask  her  afterwards  to  sit  at  her  own 
table.  But  the  Royal  Huntress  carried  away  the  honours  of  the  day, 
and  the  bow  with  which  she  killed  the  deer  was  hung  up  in  the  Buck 
Hall  of  Cowdray.  After  the  hunt  there  were  masques,  and  nymphs 
in  sweet  arbours  sang  harmonious  songs  of  the  Queen's  glory. 
On  Tuesday  the  Queen  "went  to  dinner  in  the  Priory,  where  my 
Lord  kept  house."  Masques  of  the  pilgrims,  of  the  anglers,  and 
of  the  wild  man  gave  the  Queen  sufficient  flattery,  even  for 
her  accustomed  ear.  On  the  last  day  of  her  visit  the  Queen 
knighted  some  young  gentlemen,  among  them  Sir  George  Browne, 
Lord  Montague's  second  son  (the  second  Lady  Montague's  eldest), 
and  Sir  Robert  Dormer,  his  son-in-law,  afterwards  Lord  Dormer. 
Montague's  eldest  son,  who  had  led  the  family  horsemen  to  the 
famous  gathering  at  Tilbury  Fort,  was  not  knighted.  Perhaps  the 
Queen  thought  he  did  not  need  it,  as  he  would  be  Viscount  some 
day;  perhaps  she  wished  to  honour  her  hostess  through  her  son  and 
her  daughter;  perhaps  he  was,  even  then,  too  ill  to  appear. 

Anthony  Browne2,  writing  to  Sir  William  More  from  Horsley 
on  30th  December  of  that  year,  regretted  that  he  could  not  at 
present  accept  his  kind  invitation;  but  before  the  twelve  days  are 
ended,  if  he  is  fit  to  leave  his  dear  friend  Cornwallis  and  travel,  he 
will  come,  "But  I  assure  you  I  have  been  very  weak  and  faint 
since  Christmas." 

1  Prepared  for  driving  deer  past.  *  Loseley  Papers,  x.  122. 


48     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON  [CH.  iv 

After  leaving  Cowdray,  Elizabeth  visited  Chichester  and  Ports- 
mouth, whence  she  reached  Titchfield,  the  home  of  her  ward.  He 
would  be  certain  to  be  present  to  strengthen  his  mother  in  her 
responsibility.  We  do  not  hear  if  the  Queen  was  fortunate  at  the 
"two  standings  "prepared  for  her  at  Titchfield;  nor  have  we  heard  if 
there  were  any  masques  prepared  and  performed.  The  family  were 
too  poor  at  the  time  to  do  great  things.  Once  before  the  Queen 
had  been  at  Titchfield  under  more  painful  circumstances,  when  the 
Duke  of  Norfolk  was  discovered  to  have  intended  to  marry  the 
Queen  of  Scots,  and  Leicester l  feigned  to  be  ill,  in  order  to  confess 
the  faults  of  others  and  secure  his  own  safety.  That  was  the 
beginning  of  the  troubles  of  Southampton's  father,  and  of  his 
mother's  too. 

1  See  Addenda. 


CHAPTER  V 
THE  PATRON1 

THE  year    1592   entered  gently  and  gave  no  early  sign  of  its 
malevolent  intentions,  though  there  was  "a  great  drought." 

A  letter  of  Southampton's  shews  that  he  was  paying  some 
attention  to  his  property  by  that  time: 

Mr  Hyckes,  Whereas  I  am  gyven  to  understand  that  my  manor  house  at 
Beaulye,  with  dyvers  parcells  of  my  inheritance  there,  are  lyke  to  fall  in 
greate  decaye  and  daunger  to  be  lost  thoroughe  wante  of  meanes  to  supplye 
the  charge  of  the  reparacions  during 'my  wardship — I  woulde  hartely  request 
you  to  move  my  Lord  Treasurer,  accordinge  to  the  note  I  doe  sende,  to 
yealde  me  his  honorable  favor  in  taking  such  course  as  shall  seeme  best  to 
his  wisdome  whereby  the  sayd  chardges  and  reparacions  may  be  supply ed; 
in  doing  whereof  I  shall  rest  most  bounde  unto  his  Lordship,  and  wilbe  redye 
to  require  yor  curtesye  in  what  I  maye,  from  my  lodging  in  the  Strand  this 
26th  of  June  1592, 

Your  loving  friend  H.  SOUTHAMPTON  2. 

This  indirect  method  of  application  to  Lord  Burleigh  was 
probably  the  result  of  the  strained  relations  between  the  guardian 
and  ward,  Southampton  not  having  as  yet  consented  to  marry 
Lord  Burleigh's  granddaughter. 

Domestic  sorrows  were  coming  on  apace.  Anthony,  the  heir 
apparent  of  Cowdray,  always  delicate,  lay  dying,  at  the  age  of  39. 
He  departed  this  life  on  the  2gth  of  June,  at  Riverbank,  in  a  house 
built  for  him  in  Cowdray  Park.  His  father  felt  his  loss  keenly, 
though  he  had  no  lack  of  heirs.  There  were  his  sons,  Sir  George 
and  Henry,  to  comfort  him,  and  his  eldest  son's  sons,  three  handsome 
youths,  to  carry  on  the  direct  line.  The  eldest  of  these,  Anthony 
Maria,  was  the  baby  which  arrived  four  months  after  the  Earl  of 
Southampton  at  Cowdray — "the  fair  child"  of  the  Armada 
gathering.  He  married  Lady  Jane  Sackville,  daughter  of  Thomas 
Sackville,  first  Earl  of  Dorset,  in  February  1591.  Viscount  Montague 

1  The  earliest  Dedication  to  Southampton  is  that  of  John  Clapham.  1591, 
printed  before  his  Poem  on  "Narcissus."   It  has  probably  been  hitherto 
kept  out  of  the  record  because  it  was  written  in  Latin. 

2  Lansdowne  MS.  LXXI.  72. 

s.  s.  4 


50       THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

made  a  great  funeral  procession  for  his  son  at  Midhurst,  when  he 
buried  him  on  the  ist  of  August,  1592.  Lord  Southampton  would 
certainly  be  present  among  the  chief  mourners,  as  Anthony  was 
his  mother's  only  brother  of  the  full  blood,  and  his  only  uncle 
of  the  Ratcliffe  descent. 

The  next  affair  we  know  him  to  be  concerned  in  was  "a  vessel 
of  St  Malo  in  Brittany  laden  with  sugar  from  Brazil,  taken  as  a 
prize  by  Sir  Martin  Frobisher  and  brought  into  Portsmouth.  The 
Earl  of  Southampton,  Mr  Ralph  Bowes,  and  Mr  Carew  Raleigh 
lay  claim  to  shares  in  it."1  The  Privy  Council  told  the  Mayor  of 
Portsmouth  to  take  charge  of  it  on  September  6th.  When  the 
Court  was  at  Oxford  on  September  26th,  the  Privy  Councillors 
wrote  to  the  customers  of  the  Port  of  London  that  the  prize  had 
arrived,  and  they  were  to  keep  it  until  the  shares  were  divided 
between  these  three.  But  a  dispute  was  waged  about  it  until  March 
and  April  of  the  following  year,  so  that  it  is  not  likely  that  much 
would  come  to  Southampton  after  all. 

The  Earl  of  Southampton  was  incorporated  of  Oxford  in  August 
1592.  This  incident  becomes  worth  noting,  because  during 
Elizabeth's  visit  to  Oxford  in  that  year  she  was  surrounded  by  a 
gallant  bevy  of  distinguished  noblemen,  of  whom  he  was  one.  The 
visit  began  on  September  22nd,  1592,  and  the  proceedings  lasted 
until  the  28th  2.  The  glories  of  the  Queen's  reception  were  recorded 
by  Mr  Philip  Stringer  in  Latin  verse,  dated  October  loth,  1592. 

In  the  poem,  Apollo  and  all  the  Muses  describe  the  great  men  of 
their  University  in  appropriate  terms  and  their  youthful  visitors 
with  more  personal  flattery — Dr  Bond,  the  Vice- Chancellor,  the 
French  Ambassador,  Lord  Treasurer  Cecil  (the  Nestor  of  his  time), 
the  Earl  of  Worcester,  Lord  Herbert,  Lord  Henry  Somerset,  the  Earl 
of  Cumberland,  the  Earl  of  Pembroke;  the  Earl  of  Essex,  noble  and 
learned,  "whom  learned  men  admired,  more  learned  himself,"  "a 
Maecenas  with  wisdom  unmatched."  "After  him  followed  a  Prince 
of  a  distinguished  race,  whom  (rich  in  her  right)  Southampton 
blazons  as  a  great  hero.  No  youth  there  present  was  more  beautiful  or 
more  brilliant  inthelearned  arts  than  this youngprinceof  Hampshire, 
although  his  face  was  yet  scarcely  adorned  by  a  tender  down." 

1  Privy  Council  Register,  6th  Sept.  1592. 
s  Reprints  by  C.  Plummet,  pp.  249,  292. 


r]  THE  PATRON  51 

Less  than  a  month  after  this  brilliant  concourse  met  at  Oxford, 
Viscount  Montague  of  Cowdray,  the  last  of  the  three  great  Anthony 
Brownes  of  the  sixteenth  century,  died  at  his  manor-house  of  West 
Horsley  on  October  igth,  1592.  With  his  grandfather,  South- 
ampton lost  the  last  vestige  of  paternal  control  and  guidance,  and 
instead  of  the  genial  old  man  in  his  second  home  at  Cowdray,  he 
would  henceforth  find  only  his  cousin  Anthony  Maria,  his  junior 
by  four  months,  a  personage  of  no  particular  use  to  him  either  in 
influence  or  example.  Southampton's  mother  would  be  overwhelmed 
with  grief,  for  she  had  always  been  a  devoted  daughter.  She  had  now 
no  elder  male  member  of  the  family  to  lean  upon,  and  it  would  be 
a  sad  time  in  the  Southampton  home  as  well  as  at  Cowdray.  Viscount 
Montague's  great  public  funeral  took  place  on  December  6th,  1 592, 
when  he  was  carried  from  West  Horsley  to  Midhurst.  He  had  not, 
like  his  father,  designed  his  own  tomb  (as  his  biographers  say).  But 
shortly  after,  to  fulfil  his  will,  a  noble  monument  was  commenced, 
with  figures  of  himself  and  his  two  wives,  after  the  model  he  had 
chosen  for  that  of  his  son-in-law,  the  second  Earl  of  Southampton, 
at  Titch field.  It  is  a  curious  coincidence  that,  just  as  Edward  Gage 
had  been  allowed  to  leave  prison  to  take  up  his  executorship  to  the 
second  Earl  of  Southampton,  so  the  Privy  Council  Register  records 
on  April  ist,  1593,  "Edward  Gage  Esq.,  one  of  the  executors  of 
the  last  will  of  the  late  Lord  Montague,  restrained  in  the  custody 
of  Richard  Shelley  Esq.,  to  be  allowed  to  go  out  on  bonds  to  confer 
with  the  heir,  Lord  Montague,  about  the  will  of  the  late  Lord." 
This  Edward  Gage  must  have  been  a  trustworthy  man  with  a  good 
head  for  figures. 

The  death  of  Viscount  Montague  seems  to  have  been  due  to 
a  long-standing  disease.  But  wide  ravages  of  death  were  near. 
Just  after  the  courtly  gaieties  at  Oxford,  the  Terror  stalked  into 
the  land. 

The  Michaelmas  Term  was  held  in  Hertford. 

No  Bartholomew  Fair  was  kept  in  London  that  year  for  fear 
of  the  Plague,  which  was  very  hot  in  the  city,  says  Stow1,  between 
Dec.  29th,  1592,  and  Dec.  3Oth,  1593. 

On  October  23rd  died  Sir  William  Rowe,  Lord  Mayor;  on 
November  ist,  William  Elken;  on  December  5th,  Sir  Rowland 
1  Annals,  p.  1274. 

4—2 


52       THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON    [CH. 

Hayward;  on  January  gth,  Sir  Wolston  Dixie — all  Aldermen. 
Five-eighths  of  all  deaths  were  caused  by  the  Plague. 

From  the  Privy  Council  Registers  we  can  gather  that  on  the 
9th  March,  1592-3,  "the  matter  of  the  Prize  Ship  arose  into  a  new 
controversy  between  the  Earl  of  Southampton  and  Mr  Ralph  Bowes 
on  the  one  part,  and  Sir  Martin  Frobisher  for  her  Majestic  on  the 
other."  Finally  the  Privy  Council  wrote  a  letter  on  the  ist  of  April, 
1593,  to  Sir  Thomas  Wilkes  and  Henry  Clethro,  as  legal  counsel, 
"to  tell  them  what  they  think  of  the  claims  touching  a  prize  taken 
at  sea  by  Sir  Martin  Frobisher,"  "whereunto  our  verie  good  Lord 
The  Earl  of  Southampton  and  Mr  Ralph  Bowes,  pretend  tide." 

The  claims  seem  to  have  been  settled,  in  some  way,  out  of 
court;  for  we  do  not  hear  anything  more  about  them,  at  least 
at  that  time. 

In  that  very  month  of  April,  on  the  i8th  day,  something  happened 
which  has  done  more  than  anything  else  to  keep  the  Earl  of 
Southampton  in  memory.  Yet  a  commonplace  enough  event  it 
was — the  registration  of  a  book  in  the  Stationers'  Registers.  But  the 
name  of  the  book  was  Venus  and  Adonis^  the  name  of  the  author 
was  William  Shakespeare,  the  name  of  the  printer  was  Richard 
Field,  the  Stratford  friend  of  the  poet,  and  it  was  dedicated  to  the 
Earl  of  Southampton — dedicated  timidly,  because  the  poet  did  not 
know  how  the  public  would  take  his  venture,  and  he  wanted  to 
leave  his  patron  as  free  as  possible  to  slip  out,  should  the  venture 
prove  a  failure.  It  happens  that  the  first  preserved  fragment  of 
Shakespeare's  prose  writing  is  this  dedication: 

To  the  Right  Honorable  Henrie  Wriotheseley,  Earle  of  Southampton,  and 
Baron  of  Titchfield.  Right  Honorable,  I  know  not  how  I  shall  offend  in 
dedicating  my  unpolisht  lines  to  your  Lordship,  nor  how  the  worlde  will 
censure  me  for  choosing  so  strong  a  propp  to  support  so  weak  a  burthen, 
onely,  if  your  Honour  seeme  but  pleased,  I  account  myself e  highly  praised, 
and  vowe  to  take  advantage  of  all  idle  houres,  till  I  have  honoured  you  with 
some  graver  labour.  But,  if  the  first  heire  of  my  invention  prove  deformed, 
I  shall  be  sorie  it  had  so  noble  a  god-father,  and  never  after  eare  so  barren 
a  land,  for  feare  it  yeeld  me  still  so  bad  a  harvest.  I  leave  it  to  your  Honour- 
able survey,  and  your  Honor  to  your  heart's  content;  which  I  wish  may 
always  answere  your  owne  wish,  and  the  world's  hopeful  expectation.  Your 
Honor's  in  all  dutie. 

WILLIAM  SHAKESPEARE. 


T]  THE  PATRON  53 

The  immediate  recognition  of  the  poem  of  Venus  and  Adonis 
must  have  surprised  both  patron  and  poet.  It  raised  the  writer  out 
of  the  rank  of  players,  above  the  rank  of  dramatists,  into  the  rank 
of  poets,  where  he  sat  at  the  feet  of  Spenser  and  became  a  member 
of  his  school.  It  brought  reflected  honour  to  his  patron, 
gave  him  new  subjects  of  conversation,  and  widened  his  circle  of 
friends  and  admirers.  He  became  Shakespeare's  sole  patron  for  life; 
but  Shakespeare,  though  in  1593  ms  so^e  Protege,  was  not  allowed 
long  to  remain  so. 

He  was  but  one  hour  mine.         (Sonnet  xxxm.) 

Eager  aspirants  crowded  round  the  brilliant  young  nobleman  who 
had  proved  his  taste  through  his  poet;  they  brought  their  poems, 
which  they  thought  well  fitted  for  like  honours;  some  even  ventured 
to  dedicate  their  productions  to  him  without  permission,  when 
Southampton  learned  how  to  turn  a  cold  shoulder  and  deaf  ears 
towards  too  audacious  courtiers. 

The  poem  which  dazzled  the  world  of  1 593  (then  wrapped  in 
lugubrious  memories)  may  be  looked  at  under  many  aspects.  It  was 
a  period  of  translations.  Golding's  Ovid  had  been  a  text-book  for 
translations  from  1 565-7 ;  scholars  and  poets  were  essaying  transla- 
tions; Marlowe  had  left  unfinished  his  Hero  and  Leander,  Drayton 
had  written  \\isEndymton  and  Phoebe,  Chapman  his  Ovid's  Banquet  of 
Sence,  Thomas  Peend  his  Hermaphroditus  and  Salmacis,  Lodge  his 
Scylla.  But  Venus  and  Adonis  was  unlike  any  of  these  in  style, 
rhythm,  and  imagery,  and  though  the  measure  is  nearest  to  that  of 
Lodge,  how  superior  it  was  to  its  predecessor  any  one  can  measure. 
Those  who  pause  in  wonder  before  its  lyric  beauties  will  best  find 
an  expression  in  Mr  George  Wyndham's  sympathetic  description. 
It  cannot  here  be  dwelt  upon  as  regards  Shakespeare,  since  South- 
ampton is  now  in  question.  Now,  it  was  quite  the  custom  of  the 
period  to  enfold  in  poems  a  second  intention,  such  as  was  fully  illus- 
trated by  Spenser  in  his  Faerie  Queene.  Therefore,  while  mere 
strangers  could  see  in  the  exquisite  verse  of  Venus  and  Adonis  a  poetic 
rendering  of  an  ancient  tale,  artistically  combined  from  materials 
gathered  from  various  sources — to  which  the  every-day  charms  of 
English  natural  scenery  formed  a  harmonious  setting — some  of  the 
friends  of  the  patron  would  pause  to  wonder  whether  in  it  there  were 
a  secondary  intention.  Was  Adonis  intended  to  represent  the  youth 


54       THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON    [CH. 

himself?   If  so,  what  was  the  attitude  of  the  youth  to  voluptuous 
temptation?  Clearly  repellent,  if  the  answers  of  Adonis  are  analysed, 

"For  shame,"  he  cries,  "let  go  and  let  me  go." 

"I  know  not  love,"  quoth  he,  "nor  will  not  know  it." 

Remove  your  siege  from  my  unyielding  heart, 
To  Love's  alarms  it  will  not  ope  the  gate. 

...My  heart  stands  armed  in  mine  ear, 

And  will  not  let  a  false  sound  enter  there; 
Lest  the  deceiving  harmony  should  run 
Into  the  quiet  closure  of  my  breast. 

I  hate  not  love,  but  your  device  in  love 
That  lends  embracements  unto  every  stranger. 

Love  comforteth  like  sunshine  after  rain 
But  Lust's  effect  is  tempest  after  sun. 

Therefore  in  sadness,  now  I  will  away; 
My  face  is  full  of  shame,  my  heart  of  teen: 

Mine  ears  that  to  your  wanton  talk  attended 

Do  burn  themselves  for  having  so  offended. 

And  that  is  the  end  of  the  dialogue. 

Shakespeare  was  only  just  in  time  to  be  first,  for  Barnabe  Barnes 
had  also  been  writing  during  1592  a  poem,  or  collection  of  poems, 
sonnets,  madrigals,  elegies,  and  odes  which  he  called  Parthenophil 
andParthenophe^  which  he  managed  to  get  printed  in  May  1 593, and 
in  it  he  included  a  sonnet  to  Southampton,  though  the  dedication 
was  "to  Mr  William  Percy  Esq.  his  deerest  friend."  At  the  end 
are  six  sonnets:  I.  To  the  Right  Noble  Henry,  Earl  of  Northumber- 
land; II.  To  the  Right  Honourable  Robert,  Earl  of  Essex,  the  most 
renowned  and  valiant;  III.  To  the  right  noble  and  vertuous  Lord 
Henry,  Earle  of  Southampton;  IV.  To  the  most  vertuous  learned 
and  beautiful  lady  Maria,  Countess  of  Pembroke;  V.  To  the  right 
vertuous  and  most  beautiful  the  Lady  Strange;  VI.  To  the  beautiful 
lady  the  Lady  Bridget  Manners. 

The  sonnet  to  Southampton  certainly  suggests  that  Barnabe 
Barnes  knew  that  this  Earl  had  been  guide,  helper,  and  patron  to 
some  other  poet,  and  that  he  would  like  to  have  the  same  advantages 
himself.  If  he  did  receive  any  it  was  in  a  minor  degree.  His 
inferiority  to  Shakespeare  is  best  shewn  by  himself. 


v]  THE  PATRON  55 

Receave  (sweet  Lord)  with  thy  thrice  sacred  hande 

Which  sacred  muses  make  their  instrument 

These  worthless  leaves,  which  I  to  thee  present, 

Sprong  from  a  rude  and  unmanured  lande 
That  with  your  countenance  grac'de,  they  may  withstande 

Hundred  ey'de  enuies'  rough  encounterment 

Whose  patronage  can  give  encouragement 

To  scorne  back-wounding  Zoilus  his  hande. 
Voutchsafe  (right  vertuous  Lord)  with  gracious  eyes 

Those  heavenly  lamps  which  give  the  Muses  light 

Which  give,  and  take  (in  course)  that  holy  fier 

To  view  my  muse  with  your  judicial  sight. 
Whom  when  Time  shall  have  taught  by  flight  to  rise 

Shall  to  thy  vertues  of  much  worth  aspyre  *. 

One  amusing  point  is  that  the  only  unmarried  lady  here, 
the  Lady  Bridget  Manners,  "Rose  of  the  garland,  fairest  and 
sweetest,"  was  the  very  lady  next  year  advised  to  turn  her 
attention  to  the  Earl  of  Southampton. 

Perhaps  the  praise  of  the  Oxford  panegyrist,  the  brilliance  of  his 
protege's  dedicated  poem,  or  a  turn  of  Elizabeth's  favour  at  the 
time  encouraged  Southampton's  friends  to  propose  that  he  should 
be  made  a  Knight  of  the  Garter  this  year  He  was  not  appointed, 
but  the  fact  of  his  name  having  been  proposed  was  in  itself  an 
honour  so  great  at  his  early  age  that  it  had  never  before  been  paid 
to  any  one  not  of  Royal  Blood. 

It  is  possible  that  Southampton's  bailiff,  Richard  Nash,  was  a 
relative  to  the  satirist  who  made  a  desperate  bid  for  Southampton's 
approval.  His  wit  and  conversation  may  have  pleased  the  young 
lord,  for  his  dedications  suggest  some  degree  of  acquaintance. 
(It  is  very  important  to  pay  attention  to  these  Dedications,  and  their 
results.)  He  evidently  had  written  by  1593  his  first  prose  novel,  as 
the  Stationers'  Registers2  refer  to  it. 

"John  Wolf  Entred  for  his  copie  under  thandes  of  the  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury  and  the  Wardens  a  booke  entitled  The  unfortunate 
traveller  bd"  It  is  not  clear  that  this  entry  remained  in  force,  for 
the  tide-page  of  the  first  edition  known  informs  us :  "The  unfortunate 
Traveller  or  the  Life  of  Jack  Wilton.  Thomas  Nashe.  Printed  by 

1  From  Dr  Grosart's  reprint  of  the  unique  copy  in  the  possession  of  the 
Duke  of  Devonshire.  2  Arber,  it.  636 


56       THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON    [CH. 

T.  Scarlet  for  C.  Burby,  and  are  to  be  sold  at  his  shop  adjoyning 
to  the  Exchange  1 594.  London." 

Whether  this  dedication  was  included  in  the  manuscript  as  it 
reached  John  Wolfe  or  not,  it  certainly  appears  in  the  first  edition, 
and  is  withdrawn  from  all  later  ones.  By  way  of  contrast  to 
Shakespeare's  it  may  preferably  be  treated  here: 

To  the  Right  Honorable  Lord  Henrie  Wriothesley,  Earl  of  Southampton 

and  Baron  of  Tichfeeld. 

Ingenuous  honorable  Lord,  I  know  not  what  blind  custome  methodical! 
antiquity  hath  thrust  upon  us,  to  dedicate  such  books  as  we  publish  to  one 
great  man  or  other;  in  which  respect,  least  anie  man  should  challenge  these 
my  papers  as  goods  uncustomed,  and  so  extend  uppon  them  as  forfeite  to 
contempt  to  the  scale  of  your  excellent  censure  loe  here  I  present  them  to 
bee  scene  and  allowed.  Prize  them  as  high  or  as  low  as  you  list:  if  you  set 
anie  price  on  them,  I  hold  my  labor  well  satisfide.  Long  have  I  desired  to 
approove  my  wit  unto  you.  My  reverent  duetifull  thoughts  (even  from 
their  infancie)  have  been  retayners  to  your  glorie.  Now  at  last  I  have  enforst 
an  opportunitie  to  plead  my  devoted  minde.  All  that  in  this  phantasticall 
Treatise  I  can  promise,  is  some  reasonable  conveyance  of  historic,  and  varietie 
of  mirth.  By  divers  of  my  good  frends  have  I  been  dealt  with  to  employ 
my  dul  pen  in  this  kinde,  it  being  a  cleane  different  vaine  from  other  my 
former  courses  of  writing.  How  wel  or  ill  I  have  done  in  it,  I  am  ignorant : 
(the  eye  that  sees  round  about  it  selfe,  sees  not  into  it  selfe:)  only  your 
Honours  applauding  encouragement  hath  power  to  make  arrogant.  In- 
comprehensible is  the  heigth  of  your  spirit  both  in  heroical  resolution  and 
matters  of  conceit.  Unrepriueably  perisheth  that  book  whatsoever  to  wast 
paper  which  on  the  diamond  rock  of  your  judgement,  disasterly  chanceth  to 
be  shipwrackt.  A  dere  lover  and  cherisher  you  are,  as  well  of  the  lovers  of 
Poets,  as  of  Poets  themselves.  Amongst  their  sacred  number,  I  dare  not 
ascribe  my  selfe,  though  now  and  then  I  speak  English:  that  smal  braine 
I  have  to  no  further  use  I  convert,  save  to  be  kinde  to  my  frends  and  fatall 
to  my  enemies.  A  new  brain,  a  new  wit,  a  new  stile,  a  new  soule  will  I  get 
mee,  to  canonize  your  name  to  posteritie,  if  in  this,  my  first  attempt  I  be 
not  taxed  of  presumption.  Of  your  gracious  favor  I  despaire  not,  for  I  am 
not  altogether  Fame's  out-cast.  This  handfull  of  leaves  I  offer  to  your  view, 
to  the  leaves  I  compare,  which  as  they  cannot  grow  of  themselves,  except 
they  have  some  branches  or  boughes  to  cleave  too,  and  with  whose  iuice 
and  sap  they  be  evermore  recreated  and  nourisht :  so  except  these  unpolisht 
leaves  of  mine  have  some  braunch  of  Nobilitie  whereon  to  depend  and  cleave 
and  with  the  vigorous  nutriment  of  whose  authorized  commendation  they 
may  be  continually  foster'd  and  refresht,  never  wil  they  grow  to  the  world's 
good  liking,  but  forthwith  fade  and  die  on  the  first  hour  of  their  birth. 


v]  THE  PATRON  57 

Your  Lordship  is  the  large  spreading  branch  of  renown,  from  whence  these 
my  idle  leaves  seeke  to  derive  their  whole  nourishing:  it  resteth  you  either 
scornfully  shake  them  off  as  worm-eaten  and  worthless,  or  in  pity  preserve 
them  and  cherish  them  for  some  litle  summer  frute  you  hope  to  finde 
amongst  them.  Your  Honors  in  all  humble  service 

THO:  NASHE. 

It  is  evident  from  this  dedication  that  Nash  knew  of  Shakespeare's 
when  he  wrote  it;  I  think  that  he  printed  it  without  permission 
having  been  asked  or  received.  Besides  the  faults  and  peculiarities 
of  "this  phantasticall  Treatise"  as  a  work  of  art,  it  certainly  lacked 
"some  reasonable  conveyance  of  historic"  on  the  two  points  about 
which  Southampton  would  best  know.  He  was  intimate  with  the 
Howards,  he  was  a  student  of  literature,  and  he  would  know  that 
the  whole  story  of  the  Earl  of  Surrey  was  false  and  disparaging  to  his 
character.  He  would  also  know  that  the  vision  of  the  fair  Geraldine 
at  the  Emperor's  court  could  not  have  been  founded  on  fact;  and 
was  moreover  discreditable  to  her,  as  she  could  not  have  bewailed 
him  as  "her  Lord"  while  he  was  married  to  another,  and  she 
was  preparing  to  marry  another.  Her  connection  with  his  own 
family  would  give  Southampton  the  facts,  which  shewed  that  other 
of  Nash's  statements  might  be  false. 

It  is  probable,  therefore,  that  when  Southampton  saw  this  dedi- 
cation in  print  he  was  displeased,  and  told  Nash  that  he  would  not 
have  it;  at  all  events  it  was  withdrawn  from  all  subsequent  editions. 

Meanwhile,  having  witnessed  the  success  of  Shakespeare's  Venus 
and  Adonis,  Nash,  though  he  had  not  dared  to  describe  himself  as 
among  the  "sacred  number"  of  the  poets,  seems  to  have  fancied 
that  he  might  be  more  successful  with  this  patron  if  he  could  become 
one.  He  therefore  wrote  some  verses,  entitled  The  Choice  of 
Valentines^  which  he  also  dedicated  to  Southampton.  The  contents, 
however,  of  these  verses,  or  their  "English,"  seems  to  have  been 
even  more  distasteful  to  Southampton  (or  the  Censor);  for  the  effort 
remained  in  manuscript  till  lately.  It  has  a  prologue  and  an 
epilogue  both  addressed  to  Southampton. 

Pardon,  sweete  flower  of  matchless  Poetrie 
And  fairest  bud  the  red  rose  ever  bore, 
Althoughe  my  Muse  devor'st  from  deeper  care 
Presents  thee  with  a  wanton  Elegie, 


58       THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

Ne  blame  my  verse  of  loose  unchastitie 

For  painting  forth  the  things  that  hidden  are 

Since  all  men  acte  what  I  in  speeche  declare 

Onelie  induced  by  varietie. 
Complaints  and  praises  everie  one  can  write, 

And  passion  out  their  panges  in  statelie  rhymes 

But  of  Love's  pleasures  none  did  ever  write 

That  hath  succeeded  in  theis  latter  times 
Accept  of  it  Dear  Lord,  in  gentle  grace 

And  better  lynes  ere  long  shall  honor  thee1. 

At  the  end  of  the  poem: 

Thus  hath  my  penne  presumed  to  please  my  frend 

Oh  mightst  thow  lykewise  please  Apollo's  eye, 

No :  Honor  brookes  no  such  impietie, 

Yet  Ovid's  wanton  muse  did  not  offend. 
He  is  the  fountaine  whence  my  streames  doe  flowe 

Forgive  me  if  I  speake  as  I  was  taught 

A  lyke  to  women  utter  all  I  knowe 

As  longing  to  unlode  so  bad  a  fraught. 
My  mynde  once  purg'd  of  such  lascivious  witt 

With  purifide  words  and  hallowed  verse 

Thy  praises  in  large  volumes  shall  rehearse 

That  better  maie  thy  graver  view  befitt. 
Meanwhile  yett  rests,  you  smile  at  what  I  write 

Or  for  attempting,  banish  me  your  sight2. 

It  is  evident  that  Shakespeare's  Venus  and  Adonis  is  referred  to  in 
the  fourth  line  of  the  latter  address,  the  author  not  realising  the 
difference  between  Shakespeare's  Muse  and  his  own.  Southampton 
did  so,  and,  accepting  Nash's  challenge,  followed  the  alternative  his 
would-be  protege  suggested  in  his  last  line,  and  "banished"  him. 

£ln  connection  with  the  private  theories  here  advanced,  it  may  be 
suggested  that  Shakespeare,  alone  and  neglected,  may  have  mingled 
with  the  crowd  when  the  Queen  passed  through  Oxford  in  1 592.  But 
he  would  have  no  eyes  for  any  but  the  young  "  Prince  of  Hampshire," 
his  vision  of  youthful  beauty,  mounted  on  a  steed  to  awaken  of  itself 
a  poet's  fervour.  The  poet  gazed  and  felt,  but  dared  not  speak.  The 
sight  helped  him  in  his  work,  a  secret  work,  which  he  had  been 
keeping  from  his  friend  through  the  beautiful  spring,  the  hot  summer, 

1  From  Mr  McKerrow's  edition  of  Nash's  Works,  vol.  in.  p.  403. 

2  Ibid.  p.  415. 


v]  THE  PATRON  59 

and  the  heavy  autumn  airs  of  1 592.  At  every  opportunity  he  had 
enjoyed  the  lively  gossip  and  critical  dissertations  of  the  young  Earl. 
But  he  had  been  often  out  of  town,  and  in  his  solitude  Shakespeare 
had  been  studying  hard  and  working  hard.  One  book  which  was 
able  to  strengthen  and  correct  much  of  his  patron's  advice  was  The 
drte  of  English  poesie,  Contrived  into  three  bookes^  the  first  of  Poets 
and  Poesie;  the  second  of  Proportion^  the  third  of  Ornament.  This 
work  was  printed  by  Shakespeare's  friend  Richard  Field,  and  was 
dedicated  by  the  author  to  the  Queen  and  by  the  printer  to  Lord 
Burleigh.  Shakespeare  would  know  then,  what  the  world  did  not 
surely  know,  but  we  now  know,  that  its  author  was  George  Putten- 
ham.  That  book  was  of  great  use  to  the  poet.  Besides  general  advice, 
it  strongly  advocates  the  use  of  blank  verse  in  plays  and  suggests  the 
suitability  of  the  six-lined  and  seven-lined  stanza  for  narrative  verse, 
both  of  which  Shakespeare  essayed  in  his  two  poems.  He  had  also 
been  studying  in  Dick  Field's  shop  Sir  Thomas  North's  translation 
of  Amyot's  Plutarch's  Lives.  But,  more  than  anything  else,  he  had 
been  studying  Richard  Field's  new  edition  of  Ovid.  Thence  he  seized 
his  motto,  a  choice  which  has  not  been  sufficiently  noticed.  He 
set  it  before  him,  he  headed  his  paper  with  it,  and  he  began  to  be  a 
translator,  a  poetic  translator  of  the  poet  who  wrote 

Villa  miretur  vulgus ;  mihi  flavus  Apollo 
Pocula  Castalia  plena  ministret  aqua. 

While  his  friend  spoke  to  him  of  Golding  and  Marlowe,  Drayton 
and  Chapman,  he  had  hugged  his  secret,  until  his  work  was  done — 
and  then  he  had  to  break  it  to  his  friend,  so  as  to  prepare  the  way  for 
a  formal  request  for  liberty  to  dedicate  his  poem  to  him. 

In  one  sonnet  he  betrays  his  study: 

Describe  Adonis,  and  the  Counterfeit 
Is  poorly  imitated  after  you. 

He  had  to  shew  his  friend  that  he  believed  in  his  own  work: 

So  long  as  men  can  breathe,  or  eyes  can  see, 
So  long  lives  this,  and  this  gives  life  to  thee. 

Yea  do  thy  worst,  old  Time ;  despite  thy  wrong 
My  love  shall  in  my  verse  live  ever  young 

were  not  spoken  of  the  sonnet  but  the  poem. 


60       THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON    [CH. 

When  he  had  finished  the  poem,  with  the  manuscript  he  sent 
the  special  sonnet  (xxvi): 

Lord  of  my  love,  to  whom  in  vassalage 

Thy  merit  hath  my  duty  strongly  knit, 

To  thee  I  send  this  written  embassage 

To  witness  duty,  not  to  shew  my  wit. 

Duty  so  great,  which  wit  so  poor  as  mine 

May  make  seem  bare,  in  wanting  words  to  shew  it; 

But  that  I  hope  some  good  conceit  of  thine 

In  thy  soul's  thought,  all  naked,  will  bestow  it; 

Till  whatsoever  star  that  guides  my  moving 

Points  on  me  graciously  with  fair  aspect 

And  puts  apparel  on  my  tattered  loving 

To  shew  me  worthy  of  thy  sweet  respect; 

Then  may  I  dare  to  boast  how  I  do  love  thee, 

Till  then,  not  shew  my  head  where  thou  dost  prove  me 

which  seems  to  signify,  "  My  duty  requires  me  to  shew  that  the 
trouble  you  have  taken  with  me  has  been  worth  taking.  When  my 
pages  are  printed  and  bound^  and  you  are  satisfied  with  them,  and 
the  world  approves,  then  shall  I  dare  to  boast  how  I  do  love  thee." 
But  he  put  a  timid  and  far-off  address  of  dedication  to  his  first  poem — 
he  would  not  have  his  friend  discredited  for  his  sake.  Southampton 
was  poet  himself  enough  to  understand  the  beauties  of  the  poem, 
to  accept  the  dedication,  to  hurry  up  Richard  Field,  and  to  wait 
eagerly  for  the  result.  Alas!  Southampton  was  kept  much  out  of 
London  by  the  Plague,  delays  were  multiplied  among  printers,  proof 
correctors,  Archbishops,  and  Master  Wardens,  so  that  it  was  the  1 8th 
of  April,  1 593,  when  Richard  Field  "  entered  for  his  copy,  under 
the  handes  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  Master  Warden 
Stirrup  a  book  intituled  Venus  and  Adonis  6d"  Yet  the  book,  written 
chiefly  in  1592,  had  time  to  know  the  beginning  of  "the  great 
sickness,"  for,  speaking  of  Adonis'  lips,  it  says 

their  verdure  still  endure 
To  drive  infection  from  the  dangerous  year. 
That  the  Star-gazers  having  writ  on  death 
May  say  the  Plague  is  banished  by  thy  breath. 

Ven.  and.  Adon.  LXXXV. 

The  date  of  the  poem  helps  to  date  the  Sonnets.  The  poet  had 
used  certain  phrases  to  urge  the  youth  to  marry,  and  these  same 


v]  THE  PATRON  61 

phrases  Venus  used  in  her  passionate  pleadings.  Shakespeare  could 
never  have  used  them  in  his  Sonnets  after  she  had  soiled  them  in 
her  poisoned  speech. 

Thomas  Edwards,  a  little-known  contemporary  poet,  in  his 
Envoy  to  his  Narcissus1,  gives  a  list  of  poets  under  the  names  of  their 
chief  characters.  When  he  wrote  of  this  poem, 

Adon  deafly  masking  thro' 
Stately  troupes,  rich-conceited 
Shewed  he  well  deserved  to 

Love's  delight  on  him  to  gaze, 
And  had  not  Love  herself  entreated 

Other  nymphs  had  sent  him  bayes. 

did  he  refer  to  the  poet  or  the  patron?] 

1  Narcissus,  with  Cephalus  and  Procris,  was  registered  to  John  Wolfe 
on  22nd  Oct.  1593,  and  (though  apparently  not  printed  until  1595)  was 
the  first  allusion  to  Venus  and  Adonis.  It  was  satirised  by  Nash,  and  lost 
to  us  until  1 867,  when  a  fragment  with  title-page  was  discovered  at  Lamport 
Hall.  A  complete  copy  was  found  in  1878,  in  the  Cathedral  Library  at 
Peterborough,  by  the  Rev.  W.  E.  Buckley,  and  reprinted  by  him  in  1882. 


THE  EARL'S  MAJORITY 

THE  Countess  of  Southampton  had  become  a  widow  at  28  or 
29  years  old;  she  was  a  beautiful  and  popular  woman  of  wide- 
reaching  connections,  and  she  must  certainly  have  received  many 
offers  of  a  second  marriage.  But,  either  from  devotion  to  her  son, 
distaste  of  matrimony,  or  the  difficulty  of  finding  anyone  who 
satisfied  her  critical  taste,  she  had  remained  unmated  for  13  years. 
The  death  of  her  father  had  left  her  without  a  counsellor  of  her 
own  kin,  and  she  felt  that  she  needed  one.  It  may  be  remembered 
that  Viscount  Montague  had  appointed  as  the  overseer  of  his  will 
Sir  Thomas  Heneage,  an  old  friend  of  the  family.  Sir  Thomas 
Heneage  wrote  to  Sir  Robert  Cecil,  November  27th,  1593,  from 
"the  woful  Lodge  of  Copthall,"  so  styled  because  of  his  late  loss. 
When  Heneage  lost  his  wife  on  igth  November,  1593,  ne  was  at 
first  very  disconsolate.  He  was  ageing  and  ill,  and  his  only  daughter 
Elizabeth  had  in  1572  married  Moyle  Finch  (eldest  son  of  Sir 
Thomas  Finch)  who  had  been  kind  neither  to  his  wife  nor  to  his 
father-in-law.  Apparently  when  Heneage  turned  his  eyes  for  com- 
fort to  the  Countess  of  Southampton,  her  heart  melted  towards  him 
in  his  loneliness  and  failing  health,  and  early  in  1 594  the  news  went 
round  that  the  two  bruised  hearts  were  planning  to  comfort  each 
other.  Camden  says  that  Sir  Thomas  Heneage  "for  his  elegancy  of 
life  and  pleasantness  of  speech  was  born  for  the  court."  Indeed,  he 
was  about  as  perfect  a  man  as  had  graced  it — learned  and  cultured, 
a  lover  of  the  muses  and  patron  of  their  followers,  honest  and  capable 
in  business,  he  was  honoured  and  trusted  by  the  Queen,  and  was 
powerful  in  his  offices  of  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber,  Vice-Chancellor 
of  the  Household,  and  Chancellor  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster.  He  was 
the  very  man  to  affect  for  good  the  habits  and  opinions  of  the  young 
and  somewhat  headstrong  Earl.  The  Queen  had  given  Heneage 
many  grants  of  land,  chiefly  in  Essex,  where  his  headquarters  were 
at  Copt  Hall.  In  London  he  had  removed  from  Heneage  House  to 
the  official  residence  for  the  Duchy,  the  Savoy. 

The  Countess  of  Southampton  was  given  another  chance  of 


CH.  vi]  THE  EARL'S  MAJORITY  63 

shewing  what  a  good  wife  she  could  be,  and  on  2nd  of  May,  1594, 
these  two  were  happily  married.  The  marriage  promised  well  for 
her  son,  and  incidentally  proved  to  be  of  use  to  her  son's  poet  and 
that  poet's  company. 

Apparently  the  Countess  of  Southampton  was  living  at  South- 
ampton House  before  her  marriage,  as  among  examinations  of 
priests  and  suspects  a  good  many  are  noted  to  have  frequented 
Southampton  House,  or  lived  near  it. 

It  is  well  to  remember,  what  is  too  often  forgotten,  that  Sir 
Thomas  Heneage  wrote  verses  himself,  and  that  he  also  had 
dedications  made  to  him. 

Fox  dedicated  to  him  an  appendix  to  his  De  0/iva  Evange/ica, 
1577,  as  "ornatissimo  viro  D.  Thomae  Hennagio,"  but  he  did  not 
say  much  about  his  literary  tastes. 

A  more  important  Encomium  of  him  was  penned  by  the  learned 
Thomas  Newton,  when  he  dedicated  to  him  his  edition  (1589)  of 
The  Encomia  of  Leland,  "Honoratissimo,  splendidissimo  ac  orna- 
tissimo Viro,  D.  Thomae  Henneagio,  Equiti  Aurato,  Camerae 
Regineae  Gazophylaci  perspicacissimo,  eidem  Reg.  Ma.  Procame- 
rario  dignissimo,  &c.  Consiliario  fidelissimo,  Literarum  ac  Litera- 
torum  patrono  summo;  Domino  mihi  multis  nominibus  suspiciendo. 


Newton  says  to  Heneage:  "Let  others  give  gems,  gold,  bronzes, 
ivories,  pearls  from  Eastern  waters;  give  myrrh  and  spices  and  wine, 
give  coloured  carpets,  Chinese  wools,  Scarlet  cloaks,  Assyrian  tapestry, 
yellow  talents  of  the  Phrygian  Midas.  No  such  gifts  does  Newton 
offer  thee,  Heneage,  thou  well-born  flower  of  a  famous  flock;  not 
for  him  does  Pactolus,  nor  the  goldbearing  Hermus,  nor  the  Tagus 
flow,  rather  for  him  does  the  Castalian  wave  roll,  which,  like  a 
graving-tool  strives  to  immortalise  those  who  cultivate  the  sacred 
gifts  of  the  muses,  among  whom  ever  remembered  by  me,  Heneage 
most  brightly  shines,  and  most  conspicuously  sparkles. 

"  Leland  celebrated  in  song  the  learned  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber 
to  Henry  the  Eighth,  Brian  Tuke;  experienced  Heneage  flourishes 
as  treasurer  under  the  divine  and  learned  Princess,  and  discharges 
the  offices  of  Tuke;  Leland  remembers  Tuke,  Newton  remembers 
Heneage,  distinguished  in  honor,  in  song,  in  mind,  in  prayer. 

"  Let  these  poems  submitted  by  his  own  hand  be  a  sign  of  the 


64       THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

sincere  love  he  consecrates  to  you,  which  if  only  you  favour,  and 
honour  with  a  serene  aspect,  you  will  give  a  great  gift  for  a  little 
service;  whilst  I,  as  with  a  shield,  covered  by  such  a  protection 
against  the  crowd  which  scorns  and  criticises... will  despise  them 
all.  May  celestial  Jupiter  give  you  Nestor's  years,  since  he  has  given 
to  you  his  mind  and  eloquence. 

Yours  most  devotedly  Thomas  Newton.'* 

And  Thomas  Newton's  most  intimate  friend,  William  Hunnis, 
Master  of  the  Children  of  the  Chapel  Royal,  also  honoured  him  x. 

During  the  previous  year  Shakespeare  had  been  working  to 
redeem  his  promise  of  taking  advantage  of  all  idle  hours  to  complete 
his  "graver  labour,"  and  during  the  same  time  he  had  been 
growing  in  intimacy  with  his  lord,  increasing  in  gratitude,  and 
becoming  bolder  in  expression.  The  love  he  had  kept  hidden  in  his 
heart  when  he  published  the  first  poem  he  now  had  no  fear  in 
expressing — and  therefore  the  Dedication  to  the  Rape  of  Lucrece 
almost  goes  back  in  terms,  certainly  in  feeling,  to  the  2oth  of  his 
private  Sonnets  to  his  friend.  For  Shakespeare's  prose  runs  thus: 
To  the  Right  Honourable  Henry  Wriothesley  Earle  of  Southampton,  and 
Baron  of  Titchfield. 

The  loue  1  dedicate  to  your  Lordship  is  without  end;  whereof  this  Pam- 
phlet without  beginning  is  but  a  superfluous  Moity.  The  warrant  I  have  of 
your  Honourable  disposition,  not  the  worth  of  my  untutored  Lines,  makes  it 
assured  of  acceptance.  What  I  have  done  is  yours,  what  I  have  to  do  is 
yours,  being  part  in  all  I  have,  devoted  yours.  Were  my  worth  greater,  my 
duety  would  shew  greater,  meane  time,  as  it  is,  it  is  bound  to  your  Lordship ; 
To  whom  I  wish  long  life  still  lengthened  with  all  happiness, 

Your  Lordship's  in  all  duety 

WILLIAM  SHAKESPEARE. 

Southampton's  family  motto  had  a  meaning  for  Shakespeare  apart 
from  the  world,  "Ung  par  tout,  tout  par  ung."  Therefore  he 
mortgaged  his  life-work  to  Southampton — "What  I  have  to  do  is 
yours.'1''  The  book  was  registered  gth  May,  1594. 

The  poem,  being  expected,  was  eagerly  and  preparedly  welcomed; 
admirers  were  satisfied  in  their  expectations,  censors  were  silenced. 
The  story  of  Lucretia  had  never  been  more  tenderly  or  perfectly 

1  See  Dedication  from  Hunnies  Recreations,  "printed  by  P.S.  [Philip 
Short]  for  W.  Jaggard  and  are  to  be  sold  at  his  shoppe  at  the  east  end  of 
S.  Dunston's  Church,  1595." 


vi]  THE  EARL'S  MAJORITY  65 

treated;  the  seven-line  stanza  of  Chaucer's  Troylus  and  Cryseyde  had 
never  been  more  musically  breathed,  not  even  by  Daniel  in  his 
Complaint  of  Rosamond. 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  here  to  say  a  little  about  a  lady 
associated  with  both  Heneage  and  Southampton.  Much  has  been 
built  upon  the  Lady  Bridget  Manners'  opinion  of  Southampton 
as  "so  young,  fantasticall,  and  easily  carried  away"  and  it  is  there- 
fore as  well  to  have  the  real  truth  about  the  speaker.  Sir  Thomas 
Heneage  wrote  to  Elizabeth,  Countess  of  Rutland,  November  20, 
I5921,  "the  exceeding  good  modest  and  honorable  behaviour  and 
carriage  of  my  lady  Bridget  your  daughter  with  her  careful  and 
dilligent  attendance  of  her  Majestic  ys  so  contentynge  to  her 
Highness  and  so  commendable  in  this  place  where  she  lives — where 
vyces  will  hardly  receive  vyzards,  and  vertues  will  most  shyne,  as 
her  Majestic  acknowledges  she  hath  cause  to  thank  you  for  her,  and 
you  may  take  comforte  of  so  vertuous  a  daughter,  of  whose  beeynge 
here  and  attendance  her  Majestic  hath  bidden  mee  to  tell  your 
Ladyship  that  you  shall  have  no  cause  to  repent — The  token  of  her 
Majesties  remembrance,  which,  consydering  from  whence  yt  comes 
deserves  never  to  be  forgotten,  I  refer  to  the  deliverye  of  the  bearer." 

The  young  lady  had  been  away  from  her  mother  some  time 
before  1 594,  had  grown  tired  of  the  Court,  and  had  secret  marriage 
plans  of  her  own  on  hand.  It  is  likely  to  have  been  common  Court 
gossip  that  Burleigh  had  offered  Southampton  his  granddaughter, 
and  that  he  had  not  accepted  her.  But  he  was  probably  prudent 
enough  not  to  pay  attentions  to  any  other  Court  lady  sufficient  to 
arouse  his  guardian's  reproach.  It  is  quite  possible  that  the  Lady 
Bridget  had  cast  eyes  on  him  and  found  no  response. 

Now,  on  June  igth,  I5942,  Roger  Manners,  her  uncle,  wrote  to 
her  mother  that  he  was  "very  glad  of  the  conclusion  you  have  made 
with  the  executors  of  Mr  Tyrwhitt,  for  the  wardship  and  marriage 
of  the  young  gentleman."  Since  she  would  like  to  see  her  daughter, 
he  advises  her  to  get  the  Lord  Treasurer  to  ask  the  Queen's  leave 
to  have  her  home  for  a  visit.  Mary  Harding,  attendant  on  the 
Lady  Bridget,  wrote  from  Greenwich  to  the  Countess  on  July  5th, 
proposing  a  match  for  her  young  lady  with  the  Lord  Wharton,  a 

1  From  the  originals  at  Belvoir.  See  also  Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  Rep.  xn.  i.  304. 

2  Ibid.  320. 

s.  s.  5 


66       THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON    [CH. 

widower  with  children.  "  If  your  Ladyship  ask  Mr  Manners  his 
advice,  he  will  speake  stryghte  of  my  Lord  of  Bedford,  or  my  Lord 
Southampton.  If  they  were  in  her  choice,  she  saith,  she  would 
choose  my  Lord  Wharton  before  them,  for  they  be  so  younge,  and 
fantasticall,  and  would  be  so  caryed  awaye,  that  yf  anything  should 
come  to  your  Ladiship  but  good,  being  her  only  stay,  she  doubteth 
their  carridge  of  themselves,  seynge  some  expearynce  of  the  lyke 
in  this  place.... If  your  ladyship  did  know  how  weary  my  lady  wer 
of  the  courte,  and  what  little  gain  there  is  gotten  in  this  time,  her 
Majesties  favourable  countenance  excepted,  which  my  lady  hath, 
your  honour  would  willinglie  be  contented  with  a  smaller  fortune 
to  help  her  from  here... .Ask  Mr  Manners.  I  think  the  nearest 
way  were  to  fayne  the  messelles  so  she  might  have  leve  for  a  month 
to  ayre  her.  And  when  she  wer  once  with  your  honor,  you  might 
send  to  get  the  Queen's  favour."1  The  Countess  thereupon  wrote  to 
her  cousin  Mary  Ratcliffe  on  July  i8th  and  entreated  her  to  beg 
the  Queen  to  let  her  daughter  come  home  after  five  years'  absence. 
She  longed  much  to  see  the  girl,  especially  as  she  was  in  great  danger 
through  sickness  and  weakness.  Now,  either  through  her  own 
imaginary  measles,  or  her  mother's  supposed  illness,  Lady  Bridget 
got  home — but  that  was  not  the  end  of  her  trickery.  She  knew  that 
neither  Lord  Bedford  nor  Lord  Southampton  was  within  her  choice. 
She  had  no  fancy  for  the  middle-aged  widower  Lord  Wharton,  and, 
with  Mary  Harding's  help,  no  doubt,  she  found  a  young  husband 
for  herself  without  asking  the  leave  of  Queen  or  mother.  In  those 
days  such  a  step  was  no  trifle.  She  must  have  known  it  could  not 
be  passed  by.  The  next  known  of  her  is  a  distressed  letter  from 
Thomas  Scri  ven,  the  family  bailiff,  who  lived  in  the  Holy  well  House 
by  the  theatre.  He  had  delivered  the  Countess's  letter2  to  both  the 
Lord  Chamberlain  and  the  Vice-Chamberlain,  "lest  either  should 
side  with  her  Majesty's  conceipt  of  contempt."  They  both  promised 
to  try  to  clear  the  Countess  of  blame  for  this  late  marriage;  but  the 
Queen  could  not  believe  her  ignorant  of  it — she  was  too  wise  and 
her  daughter  too  obedient.  "The  marriage  of  your  own  daughter, 
in  your  own  house,  and  by  your  own  chapeleyn,  Lady  Bridget  could 
not  have  ventured  so  great  a  breach  of  duty.  Time  and  submission 
must  satisfy  and  good  friends  may  prevail  in  staying  further  pro- 
1  Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  Rep.  xn.  i.  321.  8  Ibid.  329. 


vi]  THE  EARL'S  MAJORITY  67 

eeedings."  Mr  Tyrwhitt  must  be  sent  up  at  once,  and  was  like 
to  be  imprisoned;  the  Lady  Bridget  also,  though  the  Queen  granted 
her  the  grace  of  being  committed  to  the  custody  of  one  lady.  The 
Queen  was  highly  offended.  "It  could  never  have  been  done  she 
says  without  your  Ladyship,  and  she  says  you  were  bold  to  do  it, 
as  if  neither  you  nor  your  son  should  ever  need  her  Majestic." 
Lord  Hunsden  wrote  in  the  same  strain  and  blamed  her  severely 
for  not  sending  Lady  Bridget  up  at  once  to  Lady  Bedford's  custody."1 
On  October  i6th,  1594,  Thomas  Scriven  wrote  again  that  the 
Countess  of  Bedford  came  to  London  last  night  with  Lady  Bridget; 
" . .  .Mr  Tyrwhitt  amendeth  well  and  greatly  desireth  liberty."  But 
it  was  November  27th  before  Lord  Hunsden  sent  to  Belvoir  to 
say  that  the  Queen  had  set  them  both  at  liberty,  and  blamed  the 
Countess  more  than  either  of  them;  though  the  Lady  Bridget  took 
the  blame  on  herself,  the  Queen  insists  it  was  only  to  shield  her 
mother.  Now  she  was  to  be  sent  for  at  once — '  Lady  Bedford  had 
been  burdened  with  her  long  enough.  Her  husband  could  come 
down  with  her.'  From  the  house-books  of  the  Countess  we  can  see 
that  the  young  lady  was  far  from  economical.  Her  mother  allowed 
her  at  Court  as  much  money  as  she  allowed  her  son  Roger  at  Cam- 
bridge; yet  Bridget  left  debts  in  London  to  the  amount  of  £125. 

The  girl  sank  into  obscurity  after  that.  We  hear  of  some  Court 
gossip  about  Lady  Bridget's  child.  She  lived  ten  years  and  was 
buried  in  Bigby  Church2:  "July  loth  1604  the  wife  of  Robert 
Tyrwhitt,  and  daughter  of  John  Earl  of  Rutland,  leaving  4  children 
William,  Robert,  Rutland  and  Bridget." 

On  September  3rd,  1 594,  there  was  entered  on  the  Stationers' 
Registers  a  book  entitled  Willobie  his  Aviso  and  the  true  picture 
of  a  modest  maid,  and  of  a  chast  and  constant  wife.  (In  Hexameter 
verse.  The  like  argument  whereof  was  never  before  published.) 
The  Preface  is  written  by  Hadrian  Darell. 

The  interest  to  Shakespeareans  lies  in  one  of  the  laudatory  poems 
to  the  author  "in  praise  of  Willobie  his  Avisa."  '  Hexameton '  gives 
the  first  clear  reference  to  Shakespeare  by  name  as  the  author  of 
his  second  poem,  that  spring:  "And  Shake-speare  paints  poore 
Lucrece  rape." 

Another  interest  has  been  dragged  into  it,  through  the  resem- 
i  Hist.  MS5.  Comm.  Rep.  xn.  i,  3Z3.  *  Ibid.il.  317. 

5—2 


68       THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

blance  of  two  pairs  of  initials,  which  were  either  accidentally  or 
intentionally  used  to  represent  two  of  theactors  in  the  story.  "  H.  W.," 
ostensibly  Henry  Willobie  himself,  has  been  supposed  to  represent 
Henry  Wriothesley,  and  "W.S.,""  the  old  player,"  has  been  supposed 
to  mean  William  Shakespeare,  who  from  experience  could  give  the 
younger  man  advice  how  to  prosecute  his  unlawful  love.  Such  a 
translation  of  the  friendship  which  had  resulted  in  the  writing  of 
the  Sonnets,  and  of  the  two  poems  descriptive  of  two  aspects  of 
chastity  in  man  and  woman,  could  only  have  been  made  by  the 
enemies  of  both.  A  good  deal  of  heated  controversy  went  on  over 
the  intention  of  the  book,  and  eventually  it  was  called  in.  The  whole 
publication  seemed  purposely  wrapped  in  a  mantle  of  mystification 
and  descriptive  self-contradiction. 

Mr  Charles  Hughes,  completing  Dr  Grosart's  work  on  the 
poem,  tried  to  treat  it  as  descriptive  of  real  facts,  places,  and  people. 
He  searched  the  county  histories  and  Oxford  registers  to  advantage 
and  found  that  a  real  Henry  Willoughby  was  born  in  West 
Knoyle,  in  the  hundred  of  Mere,  "at  wester  side  of  Albion's  isle" 
and  had  matriculated  at  St  John's  in  1591,  and  that  in  local  registers 
Avice  or  Avisa  was  a  common  name  of  girls.  He  brings  South- 
ampton on  the  scene  as  a  visitor  to  his  brother-in-law  Thomas 
Arundel,  son  of  Sir  Matthew  Arundel  of  Wardour,  not  very  far  off, 
and  believes  that  Sir  Thomas  was  living  then  at  Abbey  Court, 
Shaftesbury.  Sir  Thomas's  mother  was  an  Elizabeth  Willoughby 
of  Wollaton,  but  might  have  been  connected  with  the  West 
Knoyle  Willoughbys.  Mr  Hughes  can  only  bring  Shakespeare 
on  as  a  companion  to  the  Earl  of  Southampton.  He  also  identifies 
the  Horseys  of  Melcombe  Regis  as  the  persons  honoured  in 
Penelope's  Complaint^  which  was  published  along  with  a  second 
issue  of  Willobie's  Avisa  in  1 596  These  facts  are  interesting, 
but  have  still  to  be  sifted,  collated,  and  corrected.  H. W.  might  really 
have  meant  Henry  Willoughby,  and  W.S.  might  have  represented 
William  Stanley  before  he  became  the  Earl  of  Derby,  or  any  other 
man  in  the  country. 

I  had  surmised  that  after  his  mother's  marriage  Southampton  had 
devoted  himself  more  to  Italian  studies,  intending  to  travel  on  the 
continent,  but  now  I  have  discovered  proof  of  it,  in  a  strange  way. 
In  1598,  in  John  Florio's  preface  to  his  World  ofWordes  he  says 


vi]  THE  EARL'S  MAJORITY  69 

that  he  had  been  some  years  in  the  "pay  and  patronage  of  the  Earl 
of  Southampton."  The  years  were  at  first  not  easy  to  reckon,  but 
Florio  is  found  residing  at  Titchfield  with  the  Earl  in  the  late 
autumn  of  1594  (see  page  83).  Southampton  came  of  age  on  the 
6th  of  October  of  that  year;  but  there  is  no  trace  of  any  rejoicings 
at  the  occasion.  Sir  Thomas  Arundel  and  his  wife  (Southampton's 
sister  Mary)  were  at  Titchfield — not  only  they,  but  their  cook,  as 
if  they  expected  to  help  at  some  festivities.  But  alas!,  if  there  had 
been  any  plans  for  mirth  and  jollity,  they  were  swept  away  by 
the  horrors  and  anxieties  connected  with  a  murder  committed  in 
Wiltshire  by  Sir  Charles  and  Sir  Henry  Danvers,  special  friends 
of  the  young  Earl,  on  Friday  the  4th  of  October.  The  hue  and 
cry  out  against  them  reached  Titchfield  by  Saturday;  the  men  them- 
selves had  fled  thither,  and  were  put  up  between  8  and  9  o'clock 
in  the  morning  in  Whitley  Lodge,  where  Thomas  Dymock,  South- 
ampton's bailiff,  resided.  Southampton's  cook  dressed  their  food, 
and  he  himself  came  to  the  Lodge  on  Monday  night,  supped  with 
them,  spent  the  night,  and  departed  with  them  two  hours  before 
day  next  morning.  After  considerable  difficulty  he  managed  to  get 
them  shipped  over  to  France,  and  made  them  his  grateful  and 
adoring  friends  for  life. 

The  two  Danvers  were  the  two  elder  sons  of  Sir  John  Danvers 
of  Dauntsey,  Wiltshire,  by  Elizabeth,  fourth  daughter  and  co-heiress 
of  John  Neville,  last  Baron  La  timer;  Sir  Charles  was  probably  born 
in  1571,  Sir  Henry  on  28th  June,  1573,  so  that  he  was  less  than 
four  months  older  than  Southampton.  He  had  been  the  page  of  Sir 
Philip  Sidney,  and  went  with  him  to  the  Low  Countries.  After 
Sidney's  death  he  served  the  Earl  of  Essex  and  was  knighted  by 
him;  so  there  was  a  double  bond  of  union  between  the  two  young 
men.  Henry  was  very  highly  praised  and  admired  by  his  con- 
temporaries. Aubrey  says  in  his  Wiltshire  that "  Henry  Danvers  had 
a  magnificent  and  munificall  spirit.  He  made  the  noble  physic 
garden  at  Oxford,  and  endowed  it." 

These  two  fine  young  men,  having  thus  burdened  their  lives  and 
clouded  Southampton's,  were  well  received  in  France.  When  he 
was  assured  that  his  friends  were  safe,  Southampton  was  prudent 
enough  to  do  the  best  he  could  for  himself,  rode  up  to  London,  and, 
almost  certainly,  went  to  stay  with  his  step-father,  Sir  Thomas 


70       THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

Heneage,  at  the  Savoy.  The  Vice-Chamberlain  had  great  influence 
both  with  the  Queen  and  the  Privy  Council,  and  to  him  the  youth 
would  pour  out  the  whole  truth  and  ask  advice.  It  is  certain  that 
Heneage  helped  him,  for  no  unpleasant  consequences  to  him 
followed,  at  least  in  public.  Yet  I  seem  to  hear  the  echo  of  a 
rumour  about  his  doings  in  Shakespeare's  Sonnets. 

A  letter  preserved  at  Loseley  makes  it  probable  that  Southampton 
was  spending  his  Christmas  holidays  with  his  mother  and  Sir 
Thomas  Heneage. 

He  had  by  that  time  taken  over  the  responsibilities  of  his  position, 
and  had  something  to  ask  Sir  William  More1,  his  father's  old  friend. 
Sir,  understanding  that  one  Christopher  Buckle,  a  late  servant  of  yours, 
receyved  by  my  cosen  Haull  to  be  the  Underkeeper  of  Dogmarsfield  Parke. 
whereof  I  have  commytted  the  charge  to  hym,  is  an  humble  suitor  for  your 
good  favour  to  be  continued  unto  hym,  as  to  a  person  that  would  be  most 
sorye  for  your  discountenance,  or  yll  opynyon  of  hym,  I  shall  pray  you  for 
my  request's  sake  to  vouchsafe  such  allowance  of  his  humble  desyre  in  this 
behalfe  as  may  give  me  cause  to  yeelde  yow  thanks  for  hym.  Wherewith, 
wishing  you  very  hartely  well,  I  leave  you  to  the  good  keeping  of  our  Lord 
Jesus.  At  the  Savoy,  the  2ist  December  1594 

Your  assured  frende 

H.  SOUTHAMPTON. 

A  few  days  later,  events  occurred  at  Gray's  Inn  which  have  never 
been  fully  explained.  The  students,  who  had  not  had  their  usual 
revels  for  two  or  three  years  because  of  the  plague  and  other  causes, 
had  resolved  to  make  up  for  it  this  year.  For  this  they  elected  a 
Mr  Henry  Helmes2  to  be  their  Lord  of  Misrule,  entitling  him 
"Henry,  Prince  of  Purpoole,  Archduke  of  Stapulia  and  Bernardia, 
Duke  of  High  and  Nether  Holborn,  Marquis  of  St  Giles  and 
Tottenham,  Count  Palatine  of  Bloomsbury  and  Clerkenwell  etc." 
They  were  going  to  frame  round  him  all  the  paraphernalia  of  a 
court,  had  selected  Innocent's  night,  December  28th,  as  the  day  of 
their  first  special  revels,  and  had  invited  the  Templars  to  join  them, 
so  that  they  might  heal  the  breach  that  had  unfortunately  risen 
between  them.  They  had  erected  in  the  Hall  a  great  stage,  which 

1  Loseley  Papers,  vol.  vin. 

8  Gesta  Grayorum,  or  the  History  «/  the  High  and  Mighty  Prince  of 
Purpoole  who  reigned  and  died  1594.  Printed  by  Canning,  reprinted  in 
Nichols'  Royal  Progresses  of  Elizabeth  (vol.  in.  262),  lately  reprinted  from  the 
original  MS.,  and  edited  by  W.  W.  Greg  for  the  Malone  Society. 


vi]  THE  EARL'S  MAJORITY  7i 

we  still  can  measure,  whereon  to  represent  their  device.  But  the 
goodly  company  of  great  folks  whom  they  had  invited  were  not 
amenable  to  the  mock  Prince's  discipline;  they  all  seemed  to  have 
aspired  to  the  seats  of  honour  on  the  stage,  and  "the  very  good 
inventions  and  conceptions"  could  not  be  performed  for  the  uproar 
and  disorder.  The  Templars  rose  up  and  went  away  dissatisfied; 
as  the  masque  had  been  intended  for  their  benefit,  it  was  not  then 
played,  and  those  who  remained  had  "to  content  themselves  with 
ordinary  dancing  and  revelling,  and  when  that  was  over,  with  a 
comedy  of  errors  like  to  Plautus  his  Menaechmi,  which  was 
playd  by  the  players."  This  play  was  considered  the  crowning 
disgrace  of  the  evening,  which  was  ever  afterwards  called  "the 
night  of  errors." 

Next  day  they  held  a  mock  court,  examined  witnesses,  arraigned 
a  "conjurer"  on  the  charges  of  having  caused  the  confusion  by 
magic  and  "of  having  foisted  a  company  of  base  and  common  fellows 
to  make  up  our  disorders  with  a  play  of  Errors  and  confusions." 
The  officers  of  the  Christmas  court  were  sent  to  the  Christmas 
Tower  for  neglect  of  their  duty  of  careful  watching.  But  it  may 
be  noticed  that  nobody  asked  "  How  were  the  '  base  and  common 
fellows'  introduced?"  nor  the  even  more  pertinent  question,  "Who 
paid  the  players?"  I  think  that  the  Earl  of  Southampton  most  likely 
had  something  to  do  with  that. 

The  Prince  and  the  Privy  Council  held  a  great  consultation  how 
to  regain  the  lost  honour  of  Gray's  Inn  "by  some  graver  conceipt." 
During  their  efforts  to  arrange  something  to  do  this,  the  year  of 
Southampton's  majority  closed. 

[Now,  in  regard  to  the  Gray's  Inn  Revels  of  1594,  I  should  like 
to  bring  forward  a  hypothesis  which  would  account  for  much  of 
the  mystery  regarding  the  Play  of  Errors.  I  think  it  is  quite  possible 
that  Southampton  was  associated  with  it  much  more  closely  than 
has  been  supposed.  At  Gray's  Inn  he  still  might  be  reckoned  as 
among  the  students;  he  could  not  have  risen  higher  than  an  inner 
barrister,  and  there  is  no  record  that  he  had  risen  so  far.  It  is 
possible  that,  knowing  how  popular  he  had  been  in  his  own 
circle,  he  might  have  expected  to  have  been  chosen  the  Prince  of 
Purpoole  himself,  all  the  more  that  it  would  be  a  natural  compli- 
ment to  him  on  his  coming  of  age.  When  he  found  another  selected, 


72       THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

trifles  might  have  the  effect  of  rubbing  him  the  wrong  way.  He  might 
think  that  it  was  because  he  had  sheltered  his  friends  the  Danvers 
that  he  was  left  out  of  the  ring.  Some  of  Henry  Helmes'  titles  were 
taken  from  his  property:  "The  Duke  of  High  and  Nether  Holborn," 
"Count  Palatine  of  Bloomsbury  and  Clerkenwell."  The  powers 
given  to  the  Prince  might  have  annoyed  him,  the  device  intended  to 
have  been  played  might  have  offended  him,  but  he  would  have  done 
nothing  but  for  the  accidental  over-crowding  of  people,  and  the  uproar 
and  confusion  among  the  crowds.  Then  he  would  see  an  innocent 
way,  even  yet,  of  becoming  a  "  Lord  of  Misrule."  He  would  almost 
certainly  have  been  at  Court  at  Greenwich  for  the  forenoon  per- 
formance, and  as  certainly  would  return  to  town  for  the  Gray's  Inn 
evening  festivities.  Possibly  he  went  up  to  town  about  the  same  time 
as  the  players  and  offered  them  a  rere-supper  at  one  of  the  Holborn 
Inns,  promising  to  come  round  and  join  them  as  soon  as  he  could. 
When  the  Templars  departed  and  he  knew  the  device  was  spoiled,  he 
might  send  for  them,  get  them  somehow  admitted  (they  could  not 
have  got  in  by  their  own  wits),  and  tell  them  to  play  the  comedy  they 
had  just  shewn  the  Queen.  Somehow  they  did  find  an  entrance, 
and  a  cleared  stage,  and  the  noise  ceased  as  a  performance  began. 
Thereafter  the  players  would  slip  away,  secure  in  the  knowledge 
of  a  coming  reward  from  Southampton.  Supposing  all  that,  what 
follows?  Next  day  the  Gray's  Inn  revellers,  after  legal  forms,  held 
an  enquiry  as  to  the  causes  of  the  tumult.  They  charged  a  "Sorcerer 
or  Conj  urer"  with  having  done  the  mischief,  who  appealed  for  j  ustice, 
and  blamed  every  one  else.  So  the  Court  punished  their  officials  for 
lack  of  due  discipline  and  sent  them  to  the  Christmas  Tower.  They 
never  found  the  real  offender,  because  they  did  not  want  to  find  him  \ 
They  knew  so  far — that  somebody  well  known  must  have  guided 
the  players,"  the  base  and  common  fellows,"  into  their  sanctum,  and 
that  somebody  must  have  paid  them.  Was  it  Southampton?  If  any 
one  ever  brings  forward  a  simpler  explanation,  I  am  willing  to  give 
this  up.  I  am  quite  aware  that  some  have  made  a  difficulty  about 
the  date  of  the  play  at  Greenwich.  Even  Mr  Greg  and  Mr  E.  K. 
Chambers  have  done  so. 

It  would  perhaps  help  to  clear  away  some  dust  from  a  literary 
question  to  pause  for  a  moment  here.  Mr  Greg  published  his  new 
and  careful  edition  of  the  Gesta  Grayorum  for  the  Malone  Society's 


vi]  THE  EARL'S  MAJORITY  73 

reprints.  The  date  printed  on  the  volume  is  April  1914;  the  date 
in  the  Museum  copy  is  stamped  May  1915;  the  date  of  actual 
delivery  to  subscribers  was  the  I3th  March  1916 — (this  is  on 
the  late  Mr  Wheatley's  authority).  A  reviewer  of  my  book 
Shakespeare's  Industry^  published  on  the  8th  of  March  and  sent 
to  the  Press  on  the  i  oth,  suggested  that  I  should  have  referred  to 
this  edition  in  the  reprint  of  my  article  on  the  subject  which  had 
appeared  in  the  Shakespeare  Jahrbuch^  1895! 

In  the  preface  to  this  edition  of  the  Gestay  Mr  Greg,  as  general 
editor,  states,  "There  are  certain  difficulties  which  have  not  always 
been  recognized.  The  performance  at  Gray's  Inn  took  place  in  the 
evening  of  December  28,  and  if  the  play  was  Shakespeare's  play, 
we  must  suppose  that  the  company  was  Shakespeare's  company  and 
the  Lord  Chamberlain's  men.  But  the  accounts  of  the  Treasurer 
of  the  Chamber  show  payments  to  this  company  for  performances 
before  the  Court  both  on  the  26th  December  and  28th  December. 
The  Court  was  at  Greenwich,  and  the  performances  were  in  the 
evening.  These  accounts,  however,  also  shew  a  payment  to  the  Lord 
Admiral's  men  in  respect  of  28th  December.  It  is  true  that  instances 
of  two  Court  performances  on  one  night  do  occur  elsewhere,  but 
in  view  of  the  double  difficulty  involved,  it  is  perhaps  best  to  assume 
that  in  the  Treasurer's  accounts  28th  December  is  an  error  for 
2;th  December."  Mr  Greg  refers  to  Mr  E.  K.  Chambers'  article 
in  the  Modern  Language  Review^  Oct.  1906,  n.  10.  Now  Mr 
Chambers  says  that  "both  in  the  'Pipe  Roll'  and  in  the  Treasurer  of 
the  Chamber's  original  account  (Harl.  MS.  1642,  f.  19  b)  records  of 
the  payments  for  the  26th  and  28th  December  are  given — It 
is  not  unlikely  that  the  second  play  of  the  Chamberlain's  men 
before  Elizabeth  was  really  on  St  John's  day,  Dec.  27th." 

Why  so?  Why  assume  an  error  until  other  alternatives  are  ex- 
hausted? Now  it  is  notable  among  these  records  that  the  usual 
form  of  an  entry  runs,  "on  New  Year's  day  at  night,"  "on  Inno- 
cent's day  at  night";  but  this  particular  entry  runs  "on  Innocent's 
Day"  So  there  was  surely  sufficient  time  for  the  Chamberlain's 
men  to  perform  twice  on  that  occasion,  at  Greenwich  by  day,  at 
Gray's  Inn  at  night.  I  treated  this  fully  in  my  Jahrbuch  article  on 
"The  earliest  Official  Record  of  Shakespeare's  name,"  reprinted  in 
Shakespeare's  Industry,  p.  218,  and  also  in  my  Atheneeum  article 


74       THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

of  April  30th,  1904;  but  neither  Mr  Chambers  nor  Mr  Greg 
seems  to  have  read  them,  or  checked  the  originals  quoted.  In 
the  "  Declared  accounts  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber,  Pipe 
Office"  (not  the  Pipe  Roll  as  Mr  Chambers  says)  and  also  in  the 
same  "Declared  accounts"  in  the  Audit  Office,  to  which  he  does 
not  seem  to  have  referred,  the  statement  is  quite  clear — "  Innocent's 
Day."  It  is  not  like  Mr  Chambers  to  mix  his  references;  but  he 
says  the  payments  discussed  are  given  also  in  Harleian  MS.  1642 
f.  19  b.  There  is  no  such  record  at  that  reference,  because  the 
Harleian  MS.  in  question  concerns  itself  with  the  year  previous  to 
that  in  which  these  plays  were  performed  at  Greenwich. 

This  story  cannot  be  dismissed  without  a  few  words  on  the  first 
form  of  the  Bacon -Shakespeare  Question.  It  is  quite  probable  that 
Bacon  designed,  or  had  something  to  do  with  designing,  the  device 
intended  to  have  been  performed  at  Gray's  Inn  on  28th  December, 
1594— only,  it  was  not  played.  It  was  Shakespeare's  Comedy 
of  Errors^  played  by  base  and  common  fellows  (himself  certainly 
being  one),  which  was  reckoned  as  the  crowning  disgrace  of  the 
evening.  But  during  the  following  few  days,  when  the  disap- 
pointed performers  laid  their  heads  together  to  recover  the  lost 
glory  of  Gray's  Inn,  there  is  no  doubt  that  Bacon  helped  them. 
Mr  Spedding,  his  biographer,  says  that  the  speeches  of  the  Six 
Councillors  "carry  his  signature  in  every  line."  With  that  dictum 
careful  readers  agree.  The  history  says  that  the  performances  of 
the  3rd  January,  1 594,  quite  restored  the  lost  honour  of  the  Night 
of  Errors  and  made  the  Graians  and  the  Templars  friends — that 
is,  that  his  legal  contemporaries  preferred  Bacon's  Six  Councillors. 
But  dramatic  posterity  prefers  Shakespeare's  Comedy  of  Errors. 

The  story  of  the  Sonnets  fits  in  wonderfully  with  the  story  of 
Southampton's  life  just  then.  Anyone  may  search  and  see  some 
slight  associated  idea.  For  instance,  it  must  have  been  about  July, 
1 594,  when  the  company  went  on  its  travels,  that  the  talks  of  the 
friends  led  them  to  discuss  what  would  be  done  after  the  coming 
of  age,  and  marked  a  poetic  fervour  in  Sonnet  civ: 

To  me,  fair  friend,  you  never  can  be  old, 
For  as  you  were  when  first  your  eye  I  eyed 
Such  seems  your  beauty  still.  Three  winters'  cold 
Have  from  the  forests  shook  three  summers'  pride; 


vi]  THE  EARL'S  MAJORITY  75 

Three  beauteous  springs  to  yellow  autumn  turned 
In  process  of  the  seasons  have  I  seen; 
Three  April  perfumes  in  three  hot  Junes  burn'd 
Since  first  I  saw  you  fresh  which  yet  are  green. 

In  regard  to  Shakespeare's  private  relations  to  the  Earl,  little 
is  definitely  known.  Though  I  do  not  wish  to  put  it  forward 
as  founded  on  authority^  1  may  say  that  there  are  a  good  many 
reasons  to  suggest  the  opinion  that,  considering  the  circumstances, 
Shakespeare  wrote  A  Midsummer  Night's  Dream  for  the  wedding 
festivities  of  Sir  Thomas  Heneage  and  the  Countess  of  Southampton. 
The  stately  central  figures  of  Theseus  and  Hippolyta  harmonised 
with  the  representation  of  the  Bridegroom  and  the  Bride;  the  inter^ 
weaving  of  fairies  sprang  from  dreams  of  perpetual  youth;  the  lovers' 
fancies  controlled  by  the  fairies'  will,  was  a  tribute  of  associated  ideas 
for  his  beautiful  young  friend;  Bottom  and  his  group  was  a  gentle 
satire  on  his  own  company  as  they  had  appeared  to  his  youthful  eyes 
at  Kenilworth  in  1575.  For  it  seems  certain  that  Shakespeare  had 
been  taken  there  by  his  father  as  a  boy  of  eleven,  and  had  remembered 
the  spell  of  the  masque  and  music  of  The  Lady  of  the  Lake  by  Master 
William  Hunnis,  which  so  inspired  Master  Robert  Laneham — "the 
hole  armonny  conveyed  in  tyme,  tune,  and  temper,  thus  incom- 
parably melodious;  with  what  pleazure,  with  what  sharpnes  of 
conceyt,  with  what  lyvely  delighte,  this  moughte  pears  into  the 
heerer's  harts,  I  pray  ye  imagine  yourself  as  ye  may...,  for  by  all  the 
wit  and  cunning  I  have,  I  cannot  express,  I  promis  you."  It  is  not 
at  all  certain  that  the  Earl  and  Countess  of  Southampton  had  been 
there;  but  it  is  quite  certain  that  Sir  Thomas  Heneage  had  been, 
and  who  so  well  as  that  faithful  old  courtier  could  have  appreciated 
the  memorable  lines  to  Elizabeth1? 

Now,  if  that  play  was  performed  at  his  mother's  wedding,  it 
would  give  Southampton  a  chance  of  being  stage  manager,  whether 

1  M.N.D.  n.  i.  !  saw_ 

Cupid  all  arm'd :  a  certain  aim  he  took 
At  a  fair  vestal,  throned  by  the  west; 
And  loosed  his  love-shaft  smartly  from  his  bow, 
As  it  should  pierce  a  hundred  thousand  hearts ; 
But  I  might  see  young  Cupid's  fiery  shaft 
Quench'd  in  the  chaste  beams  of  the  watery  moon ; 
And  the  imperial  votaress  passed  on 
In  maiden  meditation  fancy  free. 


76       THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON    [CH. 

the  performance  was  at  Southampton  House,  at  Horsham,  at  the 
Savoy,  in  the  rural  surroundings  of  Copthall,  or  even  at  Titchfield; 
and  he  would  have  enjoyed  that. 

We  do  know  that  it  was  after  the  Heneage  marriage  that 
we  have  the  first  official  record  of  Shakespeare's  name  as  playing 
at  Court,  in  the  accounts  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber,  Dec. 
28th,  I5941-] 

Mr  Bertram  Dobell  on  Sept.  1 4th,  1901,  wrote  to  The  Athenaum* 
stating  that  he  had  purchased  a  manuscript  book  entitled  A  Register 
of  all  the  Noble  Men  of  England  stthence  the  Conquest  Created — 
probably  written  between  1570—90.  On  the  fly-leaves  at  the  end 
are  some  poems  by  Sir  Thomas  Heneage,  to  one  of  which  Sir 
Walter  Raleigh  wrote  a  reply.  As  he  had  not  found  any  of  the 
former  printed,  Mr  Dobell  includes  them,  as  follows: 

SR.  THOMAS  HENEAGE 

Most  welcome  love,  thou  mortall  foe  to  lies, 
thou  roote  of  life  and  miner  of  debate, 
an  impe  of  heaven  that  troth  to  vertue  ties, 
a  stone  of  choise  that  bastard  lustes  doth  hate 
a  waye  to  fasten  fancy  most  to  reason 
in  all  effects,  and  enemy  most  to  treason. 

A  flowre  of  faith  that  will  not  vade  for  smart, 
mother  of  trust  and  murderer  of  oure  woes 
in  sorrowes  seas,  a  cordiall  to  the  hart 
that  medcyne  gives  to  every  grief  that  growes ; 
a  schoole  of  witt,  a  nest  of  sweet  conceit, 
a  percynge  eye  that  findes  a  gilt  disceit. 

A  fortress  sure  which  reason  must  defend, 
a  hopefull  tayle,  a  most  delyghtinge  band, 
affection  mazed  that  leades  to  happy  ende 
to  ranginge  thoughtes  a  gentle  ranginge  hande, 
a  substaunce  sure  as  will  not  be  undone, 
a  price  of  joye  for  which  the  wisest  ronne. 

SR.  THOMAS 

The  markes  of  thoughtes  and  messengers  of  will 
(my  friend)  be  wordes,  but  they  not  all  to  trust, 

1  See  my  paper  "The  earliest  Official  Record  of  Shakespeare's  name," 
Jahrbuch,  1895. 

1  Athenceum,  September  I4th,  1901,  p.  349. 


vi]  THE  EARL'S  MAJORITY  77 

for  wordes  be  good  full  oft  when  thoughtes  be  ill, 
at  fair  is  falce  though  sometymes  sweet  and  juste, 
then  friends  to  judge  aright  and  scape  the  scof 
trust  none  till  tyme  shall  putt  their  vysardes  of. 

MR  RAWLEIGH 

Farewell  falce  love,  thou  oracle  of  lies, 

a  mortall  foe  and  enemy  to  rest, 
an  envious  boye  from  whome  all  cares  arise 

a  bastard  vile,  a  beast  with  rage  possest, 
a  way  of  error,  a  temple  full  of  treason, 
in  all  effectes  contrary  unto  reason. 

A  poysened  serpent,  covered  all  with  flowers, 
mother  of  sighes  and  murderer  of  repose, 

a  sea  of  sorrowe  from  whence  are  drawen  such  showers 
as  moysture  lendes  to  every  griefe  that  growes, 

a  schoole  of  gyle,  a  nest  of  deep  deceit, 

a  gylded  hook  that  holdes  a  poysened  bait. 

A  fortress  foiled  whome  reason  did  defend, 

a  Cyren's  songe,  a  feaver  of  the  mynde, 
a  maze  wherin  affection  findes  no  ende, 

a  raginge  clowde  that  ronnes  before  the  winde, 
a  substaunce  lyke  the  shadow  of  the  sunne, 
a  goale  of  griefe  for  which  the  wysest  ronne. 

SR.  THOMAS 

Madame  who  once  in  paper  puts  his  thoughte 
doth  send  to  daunger  that  was  safe  at  home, 
and  meaning  well  doth  make  his  judgment  noughte 
to  thrall  his  wordes  he  wotes  not  well  to  whome; 
yet  pullinge  back  his  penne  he  must  confesse 
to  show  his  witt  he  proves  his  love  the  lesse. 

SR.  THO. 

Idle  or  els  but  seldom  busied  best 

in  court  (my  Lord)  we  leade  the  vaynest  life, 

where  hopes  with  feares,  where  joyes  with  sorrowes  rest, 

but  faith  is  rare,  tho  fayrest  wordes  be  rife. 

Heare  learne  we  vice,  and  looke  one  vertuous  bookes, 
heare  fine  deceit  we  hould  be  courtly  skill; 
our  care  is  heare  to  waite  one  wordes  and  lookes, 
and  greatest  work  to  follow  others  will. 


78 

Heare  scorne  a  grace,  and  pride  is  pleasant  thought, 
mallice  but  might  and  fowlest  shifte  no  shame, 
lust  but  delyght,  and  plainest  dealing  nought, 
whear  flattery  lykes,  and  trothe  beares  oftest  blame 

Yet  is  the  cawse  not  in  the  place,  I  finde, 
but  all  the  fault  is  in  the  faulty  minde. 

SR.  THOMAS 

Seldome  and  short  be  all  our  happiest  houres 
we  hear  can  hold,  for  why?  oure  hopes  and  joies 
roulinge  and  fake  their  broding  tyme  devoures, 
which  when  we  trust,  alas  we  finde  but  toyes. 

Hard  to  obtain,  but  yet  more  haistly  gon, 
be  greatest  happ,  with  grudginge  envie  matcht, 
of  fairest  seedes  the  fruit  is  nought  or  none 
with  good  and  evill  our  lyfe  so  much  is  patcht. 

Owr  twisted  blis  by  tyme  is  soon  untwynde, 

to  hope  and  love  and  fear  doth  gyve  a  lashe, 

so  change  gives  checke  to  each  unstable  mynde 

to  all  delyght,  and  daunger  gyves  the  dashe, 
Thus  dasht  who  yet  fast  troth  to  vertues  lynckes 
mak  faith  to  shine,  however  fortune  shrinckes. 

Farewell  fake  Love  first  appeared  in  print  in  William  Byrd's 
Psalms  Sonnets  and  Songs^  1588,  says  Mr  Dobell,  referring  to  Mr 
Bullen's  Lyricks  from  the  Song-books  of  the  Elizabethan  age. 


CHAPTER  VII 
CAUSES  OF  GOSSIP 

No  doubt  one  of  the  reasons  which  made  the  Gray's  Inn  men  so 
ashamed  of  The  Comedy  of  Errors  was  that  it  was  an  exceedingly 
free,  if  not  a  bad,  translation  of  the  Latin  of  Plautus.  No  wonder 
that  they  took  Bacon  into  consultation  as  to  how  they  might  have 
something  dignified  and  fitting.  The  Prince  of  Purpoole  and  his 
Christmas  court  planned  another  great  evening  on  the  3rd  of 
January.  They  invited  the  Templars,  with  due  apologies,  to  come 
and  see  their  actually  intended  plan.  They  reared  an  altar  to  the 
goddess  of  Amity,  surrounded  with  nymphs  and  fairies  who  filled 
the  air  with  sweet  music.  Then,  apparently,  the  originally  planned 
masque,  revised,  corrected  and  expanded,  was  performed  in  stately 
dignity  for  the  benefit  of  the  Templars.  It  represented  a  series 
of  historical  friends,  Theseus  and  Pirithous,  Achilles  and  Patroclus, 
Pylades  and  Orestes,  Scipio  and  Lelius.  To  these  they  added  Graius 
and  Temp/arius.  Then  six  Lords  of  the  Prince's  Privy  Council 
discoursed,  the  ist  on  Ware,  2nd  on  Philosophy,  3rd  on  Eternize- 
ment  and  fame  by  Buildings  and  Tombstones,  4th  on  the  Ab- 
soluteness of  State  and  Treasure,  5th  on  Vertue  and  Good  Govern- 
ment, 6th  on  Pastime  and  Sports.  This  last  Councillor  advised  all 
present  to  enjoy  their  opportunities.  The  Prince  made  a  suitable 
reply,  chose  a  lady  to  dance  with,  and  so  did  all  the  others.  "The 
performance  of  which  night  being  carefully  and  orderly  handled 
did  so  delight  and  please... that  thereby  Gray's  Inn  did  not  only 
recover  their  lost  credit  and  quite  take  away  all  the  disgrace  that 
the  former  'Night  of  Errors'  had  incurred,  but  got  instead  honour 
and  good  report,"  and  Gray's  Inn  and  the  Temple  were  made 
friends. 

Among  the  honourable  personages  invited  on  the  great  occasion 
were  the  Earls  of  Essex  and  Southampton,  Sir  Thomas  Heneage, 
Sir  Robert  Cecil,  and  many  knights  and  ladies,  who  all  had 
"convenient  places  and  very  good  entertainment  to  their  good  liking 
and  contentment." 


8o     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON      [CH. 

Sir  Henry  Helmes  went  on  an  imaginary  visit  to  Muscovy,  and 
a  real  visit  to  the  Queen  at  Greenwich,  where  she  honoured  him 
and  his  company;  and  their  revels  only  closed  at  Shrovetide. 

The  mysterious  rumours  which  had  been  floating  about  through 
November  and  December1  about  the  cause  of  the  flight  of  the  two 
Danvers  and  the  association  of  the  Earl  of  Southampton  with  it 
were  intensified  in  January,  1594-5,  when  some  of  those  concerned 
in  it  were  examined  before  Sir  Thomas  West  and  other  Justices  of 
Hampshire. 

Later  notes  to  frame  an  indictment  before  the  Wiltshire  assizes 
in  the  Lent  term  were  collected  in  a  remarkable  document,  of  which 
two  copies  are  preserved  in  the  Lansdowne  MSS.2,  entitled  "A 
lamentable  discourse  taken  out  of  sundry  examinacions  concerning 
the  wilful  escape  of  Sir  Charles  and  Sir  Henrie  Danvers,  Knights, 
and  their  followers,  after  the  murder  committed  in  Wiltshire  upon 
Henrie  Long,  gent."  These  notes  are  considerably  fuller  than  the 
first  set,  and  seem  fairly  trustworthy  as  to  the  escape,  the  only 
unsupported  evidence  being  that  of  the  manner  of  the  death  of  the 
victim.  The  writer,  probably  the  attorney  of  Sir  Walter  Long,  says, 
"The  said  wilful  murder  executed  upon  Henrie  Longe,  gent, 
sitting  at  his  dinner  in  the  company  of  Sir  Walter  Longe  his  brother, 
Anthony  Mildmay,  Thomas  Snell,  Henrie  Smith  Esquires,  Justices 
of  her  Majesties  Peace  for  Wilts,  and  divers  other  gents  att  one 
Chamberlain's  house  in  Cosham  by  Sir  Charles  and  Sir  Henry 
Davers  and  their  followers  to  the  number  of  17  or  1 8  persons  in 
most  riotous  manner  appointed  for  that  foul  facte  on  Fridaie  the 
4th  of  October  1594."  Another  account  says  that  Henry  Long  had 
challenged  Charles  Danvers,  that  he  was  pressing  an  unfair  advan- 
tage and  had  his  arm  raised  to  kill,  when  Henry  Danvers  thrust 
himself  between  to  ward  off  the  blow,  was  wounded  in  the  act,  and 
striking  upwards  with  his  dagger  killed  Henry  Long  accidentally. 

It  is  evident  that  they  had  confided  in  Southampton,  before  they 
went  out,  "to  settle  up  with  the  Longs";  and  that  they  had  laid 
some  plans,  in  case  of  the  worst  happening. 

On  the  other  hand3  Lady  Danvers  brought  a  case  against 
Sir  Walter  Long,  and  there  is  to  be  considered  a  letter  of  John 

1  Salisb.  Papers,  v.  84-90.      2  Lansdowne  MSS.  827.  5  and  830.  13.  3. 
3  D.S.S.P.  Eliz.  CCLI.  123-124. 


vnj  CAUSES  OF  GOSSIP  81 

Galley  to  Cecil1,  later.  He  was  servant  to  Lady  Danvers  and 
devoted  to  her  and  his  young  masters,  and  wrote,  entreating  pardon 
for  them:  "My  Lords  of  the  Circuit  and  a  grand  jury  of  gentlemen 
had  an  upright  regard  for  justice — We  of  our  side  at  the  assizes 
preferring  one  bill  for  the  killing  of  our  man  better  than  a  year  past, 
the  same  was  found  accordingly  as  also  some  of  Mr  Danvers  neigh- 
bours preferring  one  other  bill  against  Broome,  a  very  base  and  lewd 
fellow,  and  a  chief  countenanced  and  abetted  witness  by  Sir  Walter 
Long  for  indictment  of  Mr  Danvers  at  Lent  assizes,  is  now  at  this 

assizes  indicted  of  felony  for  robbing  of  a  church Touching  my 

poor  selfe,  whom  Sir  Walter  Longe  doth  malice  in  the  highest 
degree.... In  his  continual  malicious  proceedings  he  could  never 
reprove  me  for  a  disobedient  subject  towards  her  Majesty  and  her 
laws — I  could  find  matter  for  his  utter  disgrace."  Meanwhile  he 
implored  Cecil  to  help  his  young  masters  home,  July  23rd,  1 595. 

This  account  is  supported  by  a  later  letter  of  Lady  Danvers  to 
Sir  Robert  Cecil,  saying  that  she  hears  her  Majesty  is  inclined  to 
mercy,  but  still  delays  granting  it.  She  suggests  that  this  may  be  so  as 
not  to  grieve  the  relatives,  and  asks  if  a  reasonable  composition 
might  help.  She  would  be  willing  to  consider  that,  "beseeching  you 
that  in  the  matter  you  will  not  begin  at  the  death  of  Mr  Long, 
but  at  the  murder  of  one  of  Mr  Danvers'  men,  the  cunning  con- 
triving of  the  saving  of  his  life  that  did  it,  derisions  and  foul  abuses 
offered  to  my  husband's  chief  officers,  and  open  scorns  of  him  and 
his  in  saying  that  they  had  knighted  him  with  a  glass  of  beer;  last 
of  all,  letters  addressed  to  my  son  Charles,  of  such  form  as  the  heart 
of  a  man  indeed  had  rather  die  than  endure,  how  the  beginning  of 
all  this  quarrel  was  prosecuting  of  justice  against  thieves,  harboured 
and  maintained  by  the  Longs,  all  the  country  knows.  And  if  a  life 
notwithstanding  must  be  answered  with  a  life,  what  may  be  trulier 
said  than  that  my  son  slew  Long  with  a  dagger,  and  they  have 
been  the  cause  of  slaying  my  husband  with  dolour  and  grief;  and 
if  Sir  John  Danvers  were  a  worthier  man,  and  his  life  of  more 
worth  than  Harry  Long's,  so  much  odds  the  Longs  have  had  already 
of  our  good  name  and  house." 

The  story  of  the  "escape,"  however,  can  be  gathered  from  the 
examinations,  in  reading  which  one  is  held  in  breathless  suspense  at 

1  Scdisb.  Papers,  v.  288. 
s.s.  6 


82       THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

times,  unless  the  result  is  known.  The  facts  are  interesting,  the  details 
are  sometimes  amusing.  There  is  an  almost  universal  desire  evident 
among  all  they  meet  to  help  the  Danvers  to  escape. 

The  fugitives  arrived  about  8  or  9  in  the  morning  of  Saturday  the 
5th  at  Whitley  Lodge  near  Titchfield,  where  Thomas  Dymock 
lived,  and  there  they  remained  till  Tuesday  morning,  and  "John, 
the  Earl  of  Southamptons  servant  dressed  their  meat."  The  hue 
and  cry  followed  them  through  the  day.  John  gave  Dymock's 
servant  girl  two  shirts  to  wash,  and  one  of  them  was  bloody.  The 
Danvers'  servant,  Gilbert  Scott,  stayed  at  Titchfield  secretly  for  10 
days  and  was  sent  post  haste  to  London  and  to  the  various  ports,  to 
secure  a  passage  for  France.  On  Sunday  the  6th,  the  Earl  remained 
at  home  for  his  2ist  birthday.  On  Monday  October  yth  Mr 
Dymock  and  Mr  Robinson  had  a  controversy  as  to  who  should  have 
Sir  Henry  Danvers'  bloody  velvet  saddle.  On  the  same  Monday  the 
Earl  went  with  seven  or  eight  followers  to  Whitley  Lodge,  supped 
with  his  friends,  and  tarried  all  night.  On  Tuesday  morning,  two 
hours  before  dawn,  the  Earl  departed  with  the  Knights  and  company  to 
Burselldon  Ferry,  where  Henry  Meedes  awaited  them  by  command 
of  Dymock.  The  Earl  required  Meedes  to  take  the  party  either  to 
Calshot  Castle  or  Bewly,  a-hunting.  They  went  towards  Calshot 
Castle,  but  did  not  land  until  Wednesday  the  Qth.  Now  the  Captain, 
Master  Perkinson,  was  a  great  friend  of  the  Danvers,  and  he  was 
absent  from  the  Castle  at  the  time,  whether  by  accident  or  intention 
is  not  clear.  The  Deputy  also  was  absent  for  a  shorter  time.  In  their 
absence  the  master  gunner  admitted  the  party,  but,  having  some 
doubts,  took  their  arms  from  them  and  put  them  in  the  Deputy's 
room  to  wait.  There  were  five  in  the  first  boat,  the  Knights  and 
Thomas  Dymock  included,  and  thirteen  in  the  second  boat.  Mean- 
while "Mr  Francis  Robinson,  the  gentleman  of  the  Earl's  stables, 
told  Dredge  the  stable-boy  to  go  into  the  kitchen  to  Austin,  the  cook 
of  Sir  Thomas  Arundel  (who  with  his  lady  was  then  at  Titchfield), 
and  get  a  basket  of  cooked  meats,  and  carry  it  to  Mr  Dymock";  and 
the  party  in  the  Deputy's  room  supped  there,  the  Deputy  arriving 
in  time  to  join  them.  They  stayed  at  the  Castle  till  Friday  the  nth, 
many  messages  coming  and  going.  Then  Captain  Perkinson  sent 
private  information  to  the  Earl  that  he  had  received  official  letters 
from  Sir  Thomas  West  to  apprehend  them.  Southampton  sent  his 


vn]  CAUSES  OF  GOSSIP  83 

servant  Payne  to  warn  his  friends;  the  master  gunner  gave  them 
back  their  arms,  though  all  knew  by  this  time  that  they  were  the 
men  wanted;  and  they  hurried  out  pell-mell,  overcrowding  the  boat 
in  their  haste.  It  is  not  quite  clear  where  they  went;  but  on  Friday 
night  seven  strange  men  supped  in  Whitley  Lodge  kitchen  and 
rode  away.  Then  more  arrived,  who  only  had  boiled  milk  for  food, 
but  spent  the  night  there  and  went  away  on  foot  in  the  morning 
with  Dymock.  On  Saturday,  Master  Captain  Perkinson  sent  to  his 
Deputy  to  apprehend  the  fugitives,  but  the  latter  told  the  messenger 
they  had  already  gone, and  he  feared  he  would  lose  his  office;  but  the 
Captain  said  he  was  very  glad  they  were  gone,  whatever  it  cost  him. 

Master  Lawrence  Grose,  Sheriff  of  Southampton,  being  at  Hamble, 
the  Constable  there  told  him  about  the  murder  and  asked  him  to 
inform  the  Mayor  of  Southampton  of  what  was  going  on,  which 
he  did.  "The  said  Grose,  passing  over  Itchen's  Ferry  with  his  wife 
that  Saturday  the  1 2th,  one  Florio  an  Italian,  and  one  Humphrey 
Drewell  a  servant  of  the  Earl  of  Southampton,  being  in  the  said 
passage  boat  threatened  to  cast  Grose  overboard,  and  said  they 
would  teach  him  to  meddle  with  their  fellows,  with  many  other 
threatening  words." 

So  "resolute  John  Florio,"  being  even  then  "in  the  pay  and 
patronage"  of  the  Earl,  backed  his  friends  in  their  efforts  to  escape. 

We  do  not  know  where  they  were  meanwhile;  but  on  Monday 
night,  the  1 4th,  Mr  Robinson  ordered  Dredge  to  saddle  seven  horses 
and  go  to  bed,  and  the  horses  went  away  at  midnight;  one  of 
the  Earl's  servants  brought  back  four  of  them  on  Thursday  at 
daybreak  to  Titch  field,  telling  Dredge  to  feed  them  and  treat  them 
well,  for  the  Earl  was  going  to  London  with  them  that  day.  The 
author  of  "the  lamentable  discourse"  concludes  with  the  words, 
"names  of  the  principal  menservants  of  the  Earl  of  Southampton, 
not  yet  examined,  but  it  is  very  necessary  they  should."  Thirteen 
are  noted,  of  which  the  first  are  "Hennings,  his  Steward;  Payne, 
keeper  of  his  wardrobe;  Robinson,  gentleman  of  his  horses;  the 
Barber,  Humphrey  Drewell,  who  threatened  Mr  Grose  the  Sheriff; 
Signior  Florio,  an  Italian,  that  did  the  like;  Richard  Nash,  the 
Earl's  Bayly  at  Tichfield." 

The  Danvers  brothers,  apparently  secreted  in  Titch  field  House 
itself,  by  the  Earl's  help  managed  to  escape  from  some  port  to  France, 

6—2 


84       THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

where  they  were  well  received.  The  Earl  of  Essex  was  ready  to 
believe  in  his  old  soldier  and  receive  him  to  his  service  again. 

On  the  ist  of  January,  1 594-5  *,  Sir  Henry  Danvers  wrote  to  the 
Earl  of  Essex  from  Paris  thanking  him  for  his  "royal  proceeding  in 
my  favour — I  am  informed  you  intend  a  journey  this  spring  where 
or  whether  I  little  regard  to  know  (so  it  be  without  the  confines  of 
a  constable)."  He  added  that  if  he  were  allowed  to  follow  him,  he 
would  await  his  directions;  if  not,  he  would  attend  the  King  to 
Lyons.  "The  end  of  my  life  is  the  limit  of  your  commandment  and 
without  exception  are  the  bounds  against  whom  you  will  employ 
me —  I  wish  to  give  a  blow  wherein  you  may  equalise  your  fortune 
to  your  worth."  2  The  King  of  France  became  personally  interested 
in  the  brothers,  and  wrote  to  Essex  on  September  25th,  1595, 
that  he  would  be  very  ungrateful  did  he  not  employ  himself  on 
behalf  of  Danvers  and  his  brother,  who  had  proved  their  affection 
in  his  service,  in  trying  to  obtain  her  Majesty's  pardon  for  them. 
He  wrote  in  a  similar  strain  several  times. 

The  brothers  did  not  escape  a  certain  amount  of  suffering  for 
their  sins3.  Their  estates  were  forfeited  and  taken  into  the  Queen's 
hands,  and  they  wrote  pitifully  to  their  friends  of  their  lack  of 
money4. 

Yet  Fynes  Moryson,  after  having  been  robbed  of  all  his  gold  by 
soldiers  in  France,  reached  Paris,  with  but  little  to  go  further5.  There 
he  met  Sir  Charles  and  Sir  Henry  Danvers  "who  for  an  ill  accident 
lived  there  as  banished  men,... yet  did  they  not  cast  off  all  care  to 
provide  for  me  but  with  great  importunitie  perswaded  a  Starveling 
merchant  to  furnish  me  with  ten  French  crowns,"  which  brought 
him  home  to  England  by  May  1 3th,  1 595. 

From  London  (in  June?)  Southampton  wrote  to  Sir  John  Stanhope 
about  an  advowson6 — (it  is  strange  how  often  the  Queen's  rights 
interfered  with  his  gifts):  "I  hear  that  the  Queen's  answer  to  my 
suit  about  bestowing  the  Worthing  parsonage,  which  is  in  my  gift, 
but  in  the  Queen's  disposition  by  promotion  of  the  Bishop  of 
Winchester,  is  that  she  stays  a  grant  to  the  person  recommended  by 
me,  on  pretence  of  an  advowson  granted  to  Mr  Carew  by  the  late 

1  Salisb.  Papers,  v.  go.  2  Ibid.  389 

3  Ibid.  129.  *  Ibid.  463,  464,  532. 

6  Itinerary,  part  I.  p.  156.  *  D.S.S.P.  Eliz.  CCLIX.  42. 


vn]  CAUSES  OF  GOSSIP  85 

Earl's  (my  father's)  executors.  This  advowson  being  made  in  my 
minority  is  void  unless  I  were  still  a  ward.  Had  the  advowson 
fallen  in  otherwise  than  by  procuration,  I  should  have  bestowed  it 
without  regarding  the  advowson,  and  now  it  cannot  affect  the 
Queen's  prerogative.  It  would  have  been  in  the  Master  of  the 
Wards,  if  it  had  fallen  in  during  my  minority.  For  all  these  reasons, 
I  hope  the  Queen  will  admit  the  person  recommended  by  me." 

The  overweening  ambition  of  Southampton's  cousin  Anthony 
tempted  him  to  challenge  precedence  over  Lord  Thomas  Howard, 
the  second  son  of  the  late  Duke  of  Norfolk.  The  case  was  decided 
against  him  on  January  the  i6th,  1594-5!. 

Now,  for  twenty  years  I  had  been  searching  in  vain  for  some 
account  of  Southampton's  methods  of  escape  from  matrimony,  when 
quite  by  accident  I  came  upon  the  fact.  It  is  involved  in  a  con- 
temporary story  which  deserves  to  be  introduced  because  of  its  own 
interest. 

Among  Southampton's  most  brilliant  contemporaries  had  been 
Ferdinando  Stanley,  Lord  Strange,  the  Amyntas  of  the  poets.  He 
succeeded  his  father,  Henry,  as  fifth  Earl  of  Derby  on  September 
25th,  1593;  and  on  tne  J6th  of  April,  1594,  he  died  in  great  pain, 
so  mysteriously  that  many  said  he  was  "bewitched." 

The  legal  heir  to  the  Earldom  was  William  Stanley,  the  second 
son  of  Henry,  fourth  Earl  of  Derby,  his  brother  having  left  only 
daughters.  Apparently,  however,  he  was  not  immediately  forth- 
coming. Here  ensues  an  imbroglio,  caused  by  there  being  another 
Sir  William  Stanley2,  openly  serving  the  Spaniards  against  England. 
A  well-known  ballad  of  Sir  William  recites  a  semi-fabulous  account 
of  wonderful  exploits  on  his  travels,  which  have  been  fathered  on 
this  William  Stanley.  He  had  been  travelling,  and  apparently  by 
the  time  he  came  home  the  estate  had  been  wound  up  in  favour  of 
his  brother's  widow  and  daughters.  But  as  the  indubitable  heir 
to  certain  estates  and  to  the  tide,  Lord  Burleigh  bethought 
himself  he  would  be  a  suitable  match  for  the  granddaughter 
who  had  been  waiting  five  years  for  the  Earl  of  Southampton. 
The  new  Earl  of  Derby  accepted  her  at  once,  and  they  were  about 

1  Eg.  MS.  1047.  f.  2646. 

2  See  Stanley  Papers,  Cheetham  Society,  and  Ballad  of  Sir  William 
Stanley. 


86       THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

to  be  married.  But  there  is  a  letter  from  Henry  Garnet,  the  Priest, 
in  I5941,  which  states:  "The  marriage  of  the  Lady  Vere  to  the  new 
Earl  of  Derby  is  deferred,  by  reason  that  he  standeth  in  hazard  to 
be  unearled  again,  his  brother's  wife  being  with  child,  until  it  is 
seen  whether  it  be  a  boy  or  no.  The  young  Earl  of  Southampton, 
refusing  the  Lady  Vere,  payeth  £5000  of  present  payment ."  And  this 
is  the  hitherto  unsuspected  cause  of  Southampton's  poverty.  Just 
at  the  most  critical  time  of  his  finances,  when  he  was  trying  to  plan 
a  harmonious  life  of  travel  and  economy^  he  was  called  on  to  pay 
this  heavy  sum,*?/  once — the  first  recorded  "breach  of  promise"  case. 
Though  he  was  relieved  of  any  further  obligations  towards  the 
lady,  still  the  loss  of  the  money  must  have  pinched  him.  Lady 
Derby's  child  proved  a  girl,  and  on  "26th  January  37  Eliz. 
William  Stanley,  Earl  of  Derby,  married  the  Earl  of  Oxford's 
daughter  at  the  Court  at  Greenwich,  which  marriage  feast  was 
there  most  royally  kept."2 

Sir  John  Vernon  of  Hodnet,  the  husband  of  the  Earl  of  Essex's 
aunt,  had  died  in  1591,  leaving  one  son  and  four  daughters.  The 
Earl  of  Essex  had  been  able  to  help  the  son,  Robert,  and  to  get  one 
of  the  daughters,  Elizabeth,  into  the  royal  service.  He  was  himself 
frequently  out  of  the  country,  and  we  may  well  imagine  that  the 
young  maid  of  honour  often  found  it  convenient  to  send  messages 
to  him  by  his  friend  the  Earl  of  Southampton,  to  enquire  what  he 
had  said  in  his  letters,  to  tell  what  the  Queen  said  of  him,  and  to 
surmise,  from  what  she  had  noticed,  what  the  Queen  meant  to  do 
with  him  or  for  him.  Their  common  affection  to  the  Queen's 
favourite  drew  them  together;  their  signals,  their  signs  of  a  private 
understanding,  began  to  make  people  talk,  probably  before  either 
knew  that  any  personal  affection  for  each  other  had  entered  their 
hearts.  Rowland  Whyte  writes  to  Sir  Robert  Sidney,  September 
23rd,  I5953:  "I  was  told  that  Sir  William  Cornwallis  doth  often 
trouble  her  majesties  eares  with  tales  of  my  Lord  of  Essex,  who  is 
thought  to  be  an  observer  of  all  his  doings  and  to  examine  Mudriff, 
which  brings  unquietnes  in  the  Queene  and  occasions  the  like  in  my 
Lord.  My  Lord  of  Southampton  doth  with  too  much  familiarity  court e 
the  faire  Mrs  Vernony  while  his  frends,  observing  the  Quene's 

1  Foley's  English  Jesuits,  iv.  49.  2  Stow's  Chronicles,  pp.  766-768, 

8  Sidney  Papers,  I.  348. 


vn]  CAUSES  OF  GOSSIP  87 

humours  towards  my  Lord  of  Essex,  doe  what  they  can  to  bring  her 
to  favour  him,  but  it  is  yet  in  vain."  There  is  not  the  slightest 
sign  that  Whyte  attached  an  evil  meaning  to  the  words  italicised, 
though  Southampton's  biographers  have  generally  done  so. 

It  was  imprudent,  in  any  young  man,  to  pay  too  much  attention 
to  any  young  lady  in  the  Queen's  presence  at  any  time,  and  it  was 
especially  so  in  anyone  who  was  supposed  to  have  even  the 
faintest  desire  to  attract  the  Queen's  interest  sufficiently  to  rival  the 
Earl  of  Essex1.  Yet  it  was  quite  possible  that  some  of  the  evil- 
thinkers  of  the  Court  might  have  read  unintended  meanings  in  their 
open  friendship,  all  the  more  since  the  insidious  detractors  might 
find  support  for  their  gossip  in  the  supposed  allusions  to  the  character 
of  Southampton  in  Willobie  his  Aviso,  by  that  time  widely  read 
and  discussed.  The  real  fact  seems  to  have  been  that,  as  Adonis  had 
been  able  to  repel  the  pleadings  of  Venus  because  of  his  heart  being 
occupied  with  the  pleasures  of  the  chase,  so  the  Earl  of  Southampton 
found  as  yet  no  room  in  his  heart  for  visions  of  matrimony,  since  it 
was  already  filled  with  visions  of  glory  to  be  won  in  war,  somewhere 
and  somehow,  under  his  adored  leader.  His  absorption  was  all  the 
greater,  as  he  had  already  enrolled  himself  as  the  champion  of  Essex 
against  all  the  open  enmity  and  insidious  evil-feeling  which 
surrounded  him.  Rowland  Whyte  wrote  to  Sidney  on  November 
5th,  1 595  2, "  Upon  Monday  last  the  Queen  shewed  the  Earl  of  Essex 
a  printed  book  in  which  there  is  I  hear  dangerous  praises  of  his 
valour  and  worthiness,  which  doth  hym  harm  here.  At  his  coming 
from  courte,hewas  observed  to  look  wan  and  pale,  being  exceedinglie 
troubled  at  this  great  piece  of  villainie  donne  unto  him.  He  is  sick 
and  continues  very  ill,  5th  Nov.  1595.  P.S.  The  Book  I  spake  of  is 
dedicated  to  my  Lord  Essex,  and  printed  beyond  the  sea,  and  'tis 
thought  to  be  treason  to  have  it.  To  write  of  these  things  are 
dangerous  in  so  perillous  a  tyme  but  I  hope  yt  wilbe  no  offence  to 
impart  unto  you  thactions  of  this  place."  Two  days  after,  Whyte 
continued  the  story:  "My  Lord  of  Essex,  as  I  wryt  unto  you  in 
my  last,  was  infinitely  troubled  with  a  printed  book  that  the  Queen 

1  The  probable  position  seems  to  have  been  that  Southampton  was  so 
delighted  to  be  free  from  his  engagement  that  he  felt  at  liberty  to  be  more 
attentive  to  all  the  court  ladies,  and  to  Elizabeth  Vernon  in  particular 
(cousin  of  Essex).  Shakespeare  refers  to  the  gossip  in  his  Sonnets. 

8  Sidney  Papers,  I.  357,  359,  360. 


88       THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

shewed  hym;  but  since  he  is  prepared  to  endure  the  malice  of  his 
enemies;  yet  doth  he  keep  his  chamber."  Five  days  after  this,  Whyte 
ends  the  episode  satisfactorily:  "My  Lord  of  Essex  hath  put  off 
the  melancholy  he  fell  into  by  a  printed  book  delivered  to  the 
Queene;  wherein  the  Harme  was  meant  hym,  by  her  majesties 
gracious  favor  and  wisdom  is  turned  to  his  good,  and  strengthens 
her  Love  unto  hym,  for  I  heare  that  within  these  4  days  many 
letters  sent  to  herself  from  forren  Countries,  were  delivered  only 
to  my  Lord  of  Essex  and  he  to  answer  them,  I2th  November." 
Encouraged  by  this  favour,  the  Earl  presented  a  device  to  the 
Queen  on  the  22nd  of  that  month,  and  Southampton  would  be  sure 
to  be  present. 

It  is  necessary  to  go  back  to  Sir  Thomas  Heneage  and  to  trace 
the  course  of  his  last  illness,  even  in  the  new  happiness  of  having  a 
kind  and  careful  wife  to  nurse  him. 

Heneage  wrote  to  Cecil  from  the  Savoy,  June  6th,  1595:  "Your 
love  which  I  love,  is  shewed  to  me  by  your  letter... it  comforted 
me  during  an  extreme  fit  of  the  Stone."1  Lord  Hunsdon  dates  a 
letter  from  Southampton  House  on  June  23rd,  1595,  as  if  he  were 
visiting  there.  "Memorandum.  On  loth  July  1595,  the  book 
about  the  pretended  marriage  of  the  Earl  of  Hertford  and  the  Lady 
Katherine,  deceased,  daughter  of  the  late  Duke  of  Suffolk,  was 
handed  over  by  Heneage  to  Burleigh."2 

On  July  nth  Sir  Thomas  wrote  to  Cecil3,  "I  am  very  glad  of 
your  Progress,  the  rather  because  you  make  your  return  by  my 
poor  Lodge  of  Copt  Hall,  where  I  will  make  as  much  of  you  all 
as  I  can,  though  it  will  be  far  short  of  what  I  would  and  where 
you  shall  be  not  the  least  welcome.  Myself  am  troubled  greatly 
by  an  unkind  and  injurious  son-in-law,  and  being  to  meet  him  with 
my  learned  council  this  afternoon,  at  my  Lord  Keeper's,  I  shall  not 
be  able  to  see  you  till  tomorrow  at  night,  at  the  Court....!  and  my 
wife  commend  us  to  you  and  my  best  beloved  cousin,  as  to  those 
we  specially  love  and  account  of.  At  the  Savoy." 

On  July  25th  from  Copthall  he  writes  to  Cecil4  that  he  had  a 
touch  of  the  gout,  and  would  be  grateful  to  know  when  the  Queen 
is  coming.  "I  hope  that  her  Majestic  will  hold  her  determination 

1  Salisb.  Papers,  v.  233.  *  Ibid.  273. 

3  Ibid.  277.  *  Ibid.  290. 


VH]  CAUSES  OF  GOSSIP  89 

towards  the  end  of  gresse  time  to  visit  this  poor  Lodge,  which  I  love 
for  nothing  so  much  as  that  she  gave  it  to  me,  and  that  I  hope, 
ere  I  die,  to  see  her  Highness  here,  though  not  pleased  as  my  heart 
desires,  yet  contented  with  such  mean  entertainment  as  my  most 
power  can  perform,  with  most  goodwill;  and  so  give  her  Majestic 
occasion  to  like  better  her  forest  that  lieth  so  near  here,  and  that 
of  late  her  Highness  hath  come  so  little  over." 

On  July  29th  the  Countess  wrote  to  Sir  Robert  Cecil1:  "You  do 
well  to  comfort  those  who  love  you,  especially  when  with  one 
labour  you  can  comfort  us  both;  Mr  Heneage  taketh  your  sending, 
and  I  your  saying,  very  kindly.  This  hath  been  a  painful  night  to 
him,  I  hope  better  of  the  day.  Little  do  I  doubt  of  your  readiness 
upon  any  occasion,  to  do  that  I  desired  and  may  have  need  of, 
believe,  I  pray  you,  to  find  my  true  thankfulness  for  that,  and  more, 
which  I  lay  up  in  store.  At  Heneage  House,  well  freed  from 
visitation,  which  at  this  time  would  be  very  cumbersome.  P.S.  I 
pray  you  commend  me  to  that  wicked  woman,  that  loves  you  and 
likes  me.  They  call  her  my  Lady  Katherine." 

She  wrote  Cecil  again  on  the  2nd  of  August2:  "Your  letter, 
shewing  her  Majesties  liking  to  continue  her  purpose  in  coming  to 
our  poor  lodge  at  Copthall,  hath  given  him  more  comfort  than 
anything  else,  the  rather,  for  that  he  esteems  it  grows  from  her 
own  goodness.  That  he  most  desires  is  to  know  the  certainty  of  her 
time  of  coming,  without  the  which  he  shall  be  evil  able  to  do  that 
he  desires  and  shall  become  him.  In  this  he  specially  reposes  himself 
in  you  to  be  assured  so  soon  as  you  can.  He  thanks  you  for  your 
letter." 

On  August  gth,  1595,  the  Countess  jestingly  wrote3  to  Cecil: 
"We  hold  it  a  great  infortunite  for  us  that  any  occasion  moved  her 
Majesty  to  speak  of  us  to  so  great  an  enemy  as  we  esteem  yourself 
to  be  to  us  both,  assuring  ourselves  you  took  the  present  occasion 
to  pour  forth  your  malice  which  we  must  hear  and  desire  no  better. 
Mr  Heneage  was  much  revived  by  your  letter,  as  indeed  he  is  ever 
glad  to  hear  from  you,  believing  in  your  love,  and  of  his  desire  to 
see  her  majesty  well  content  in  Copthall,  I  think  you  are  sufficiently 
perswaded,  but  that  we  may  have  certainty  is  that  we  wish,  and 
in  such  time  as  may  leave  us  possibility  to  shew  our  harts  to  her  in 

1  Salisb.  Papers,  v.  294.  *  Ibid.  299.  3  Ibid.  309. 


90       THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH 

some  measure,  rather  now  than  any  other  time,  yet  am  I  at  this 
time  much  troubled  with  hearing  that  the  smallpox  is  full  at  Epping, 
and  at  Waltham,  and  in  some  houses  between  that  and  Copthall." 
She  asks  Sir  Robert  to  consider  what  were  best  to  be  done. 

On  Aug.  25th  Sir  Thomas  thanked  Cecil  for  his  care  for  him 
"that  can  yet  little  boast  of  good  amendment."1 

On  September  2nd  he  wrote  again  to  Cecil2:  "  I  love  your  letters, 
and  to  hear  from  you  rejoiceth  me,  specially  when  you  record  your 
love  to  me,  which  can  never  be  more  than  can  be  fully  requited. 
Well  have  you  discharged  the  office  of  a  friend,  in  the  matter  and 
manner  of  delivering  the  humble  remembrance  of  my  most  bounden 
duty  to  her  excellent  majesty,  by  whose  grace  only  the  heart  of  a 
healthless  body  is  uphelde,  which  surely  without  the  unspeakable 
comfort  of  her  goodness  in  this  long,  weary,  and  most  painful 
sickness  of  mine,  would  have  sank  and  yet  to  tell  you  truly  I  can 
evil  boast  of  great  amends  yet  never  man  was  more  cared  for  by  a 
most  kind  companion  that  cares  not  to  kill  herself  to  cure  me. 
God  reward  her,  for  I  cannot  but  by  the  favour  of  that  grace  which 
upon  earth  is  the  fountain  of  our  grace."  The  letter  is  written  from 
Sir  John  Petre's  house  at  Thorndon,  where  he  is  very  happy. 

On  the  4th  Sir  Thomas  Shelley3  asked  Heneage  to  reconcile  him 
to  Sir  Robert  Cecil  and  my  Lady  Cobham,  whom  he  had  wronged 
in  his  marriage  with  one  he  had  fallen  in  love  with. 

After  this,  Heneage  lingered  about  six  weeks,  during  which  the 
young  Earl  of  Southampton  would  be  sympathetic  with  his  mother 
and  sorrowful  for  himself,  and  again  his  birthday  would  be  clouded 
by  a  great  sorrow.  The  Privy  Council  Register  implies  that  Mr 
Vice-Chamberlain  signed  on  October  igth.  On  the  2Oth  the  Earl 
of  Oxford  wrote  to  Cecil  that,  considering  the  danger  of  life  in 
which  Mr  Vice-Chamberlain  lay,  he  begged  Sir  Robert  Cecil  to 
secure  him  the  Forest  of  Waltham  and  Havering,  which  had  been 
in  Heneage's  care.  On  the  28th  the  Bailiff  and  Aldermen  of 
Colchester  wrote  to  Sir  Robert  Cecil  about  his  desire  of  holding 
the  Recordership  of  that  town,  void  by  Heneage's  death. 

Probyn,  who  seems  to  have  been  a  servant  of  Sir  Thomas, 
wrote  to  Cecil  on  October  21  with  some  peculiar  notes.   He  had 
both   yesternight   and   this   day   sought  John   Arden  and  found 
1  Salisb.  Papers,  v.  309.  8  Ibid.  359.  3  Ibid.  427. 


vii]  CAUSES  OF  GOSSIP  91 

his  lodging  in  Southwark,  near  to  the  place  where  hawks  are  sold 
there  5  but  he  has  gone  into  the  country  (as  the  host  says)  for  a  few 
days.  On  his  return  he  is  to  be  sent  to  Heneage  House  and  due 
notice  will  be  given.  "The  cabinet  wherein  is  the  written  de- 
scription of  Ireland1  with  the  map  which  was  Mr  Secretary's  and 
written  by  Mr  [DavisonJ  when  he  was  in  the  Tower  is  come  to 
Heneage  House  and  my  Lady  says  only  Cecil  shall  have  it  or 
anything  else  there  is  to  pleasure  him."  In  the  same  cabinet  are 
other  books  which  will  also  be  kept  for  him.  His  Lady  sent  by 
Mr  Heneage  this  forenoon  to  Cecil,  or  he  would  have  waited  on  him 
before,  but  in  seeking  for  Arden  and  compounding  with  Pawles 
for  burying  the  corpse  he  found  no  time  to  come2.  Probyn's  name 
appears  as  Proby  in  Bishop  Fletcher's  letter  (quoted  below)  and  there 
is  mention  of  John  Arden  going  to  Cecil's  house  to  clear  himself. 

The  Mayor  and  Aldermen  of  Hull  offered  Cecil  the  High 
Stewardship3  of  the  town  on  November  4th;  and  the  Bishop  of 
Salisbury  sent  him,  on  November  1 2th,  the  patent  for  the  Clerkship 
of  Sarum,  vacant  by  the  death  of  Sir  Thomas  Heneage4.  Whyte  said 
on  22nd  November,  1595,  that  Sir  Thomas  Heneage's  "funerals 
were  solemnised  on  Thursday,  his  offices  all  unbestowed." 

There  seems  to  have  been  some  trouble  about  his  funeral,  because 
Richard  Fletcher,  Bishop  of  London,  wrote  to  Cecil  on  November 
27th,  I5955,  telling  him  that  he  had  called  to  see  him  "about  some 
matter  it  pleased  you  to  mention  to  my  very  good  friend  Mr  Richard 

Stanhope I  do  very  heartily  pray  you  to  think  that  there  hath 

passed  not  one  word,  I  may  truly  say  thought  touching  either  the  late 
deceased  or  any  other  person,  only,  I  not  being  made  privy  to  the 
funeral,  nor  satisfied  for  my  fees  due,  being  both  keeper  and  repairer 
of  the  body  of  the  church,  did  overnight  charge  my  officer  of  the 
place  to  go  to  my  Lady  Southampton  and  acquaint  her  with  the 
usage,  I  wrote  also  to  her  in  as  kind  wise  as  I  could.  Proby  came 
to  me  thereabout,  and  gave  me  his  word  for  it,  with  whom  there 
was  not  a  note.  Until  I  can  speak  with  you  I  earnestly  desire 
you  to  be  persuaded  whatever  the  malignant  invention  is,  that  I 
love  you  as  unfeignedly  as  any  good  friend  in  England." 

Sir  Thomas  Heneage  had  done  his  best  to  reward  his  wife  for 

1  Preserved  in  B.M.  Add.  MS.  33,743  (Gr.  xv).     2  Salisb.  Papers,  v.  525. 
8  Ibid.  439.  *  Ibid.  454.  8  Ibid.  475- 


92       THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

all  her  love  and  care  by  expressing  his  gratitude  to  his  friends.  But 
he  also  expressed  it  in  his  will1.  He  did  all  he  could  to  leave  her 
comfortable  and  free  from  any  interference  at  the  hands  of  his 
"injurious  son-in-law."  He  also  appointed  as  sole  executrix  his 
"dearly  beloved  wife  Marie."  This  trust  was  to  prove  a  burden  and 
a  trouble  to  the  poor  Countess  in  one  case  which  her  dying  husband 
little  expected  could  befal.  "In  December  William  Killigrew 
was  deputed  to  make  payment  in  the  Office  of  the  Chamber  upon 
the  death  of  SirThomas  Heneage."2  The  Inquisition  of  his  property 
was  taken  the  following  year3. 

The  gossip  about  Southampton  did  not  prevent  him  from  being 
courted  by  poets  and  other  writers.  We  have  seen  that  Florio  dated 
his  special  association  with  him  at  least  from  1594,  though  he  did 
not  dedicate  to  him  directly  until  1598. 

From  a  close  reading  of  the  Sonnets^  it  would  seem  that  George 
Chapman  had  striven  to  win  Southampton's  notice  by  this  time. 
His  special  original  effort  has  not  been  preserved,  but  the  allusions 
which  have  been  traced  to  him  cannot  be  ignored.  (See 
Sonnets  LXXVIII-LXXXVI.) 

Gervase  Markham  too,  a  lifelong  admirer  of  his,  first  published 
in  that  year  a  sonnet  on  the  young  Earl — his  narrative  poem  on 
the  death  of  Sir  Richard  Grenville  must  have  been  written  at  least 
earlier  in  the  year.  On  September  gth,  1595,  "James  Robartes 
entered  for  his  copie  under  the  Warden's  Handes  a  Booke  intituled 
The  Most  Honorable  Tragedie  of  Sir  Richard  Grinville,  Knight," 
printed  that  year  by  J.  Roberts  for  Richard  Smith.  It  is  prefaced  by 
four  addresses,  the  first  in  prose  "To  the  Right  Honorable  his 
singular  Good  Lord  Charles  Lord  Montjoye";  the  second,  a 
sonnet  to  the  Right  Honorable  Robert,  Earl  of  Sussex;  the  third, 
a  sonnet 

To  the  Right  Honorable  Henrie  Wriothesley  Earl  of  Southampton  and 
Baron  of  Tichfielde. 

Thou  glorious  Laurell  of  the  Muses  Hill 

Whose  eyes  doth  crowne  the  most  victorious  pen 
Bright  Lampe  of  vertue,  in  whose  sacred  skill 
Lives  all  the  blisse  of  eares — inchanting  men 

1  70  Scott.  *  Burleigh's  Diary. 

8  Inq.  P.  M.  38  Eliz.  Part  n.  107.   Thomas  Heneage,  Miles,  Essex. 


vn]      ;  CAUSES  OF  GOSSIP  93 

From  graver  subjects  of  thy  grave  assayes, 
Bend  thy  coragius  thoughts  unto  these  lines, 
The  grave  from  whence  mine  humble  Muse  doth  raise 
True  honors  spirit  in  her  rough  deseigns; 

And  when  the  stubborne  stroke  of  my  harsh  song 
Shall  seasonlesse  glide  through  almightie  eares, 
Vouchsafe  to  sweet  it  with  thy  blessed  tong 
Whose  well-tun'd  sound  stills  musick  in  the  spheres 

So  shall  my  tragick  layes  be  blest  by  thee 

And  from  thy  lips  suck  their  eternitie.     G.  M. 

Another  sonnet  follows,  "To  the  Honorable  Knight  Sir  Edward 
Wingfield." 

The  poem  is  in  remembrance  of  Sir  Richard  Grenville's  last  fight 
in  the  little  Revenge  against  the  whole  Spanish  fleet,  when  he 
was  only  conquered  at  last  by  the  yielding  of  his  men.  The  story 
as  told  must  have  stirred  the  blood  of  the  young  men  of  the  time, 
who  thirsted  for  glory.  It  certainly  stirred  Southampton's,  as  will 
be  seen  later. 

We  can  gather  from  a  later  dedication  that  the  Earl  of  South- 
ampton, before  he  came  of  age,  had  studied  Italian  very  closely 
under  John  Florio,  in  company  with  the  young  Earl  of  Rutland. 
Probably  he  then  intended  to  travel  to  Italy,  but  various  causes 
hindered  him.  Rutland  went. 

This  young  man  was  about  three  years  younger  than  South- 
ampton, and  they  were  much  attached  to  each  other.  His  town 
house  becomes  interesting  to  Shakespeareans  because  it  was  on  part 
of  the  old  Holywell  Priory  Estate,  of  which  the  other  part,  granted 
to  Henry  Webbe,  was  eventually  sold  to  Giles  Alleyn  and  let  to 
James  Burbage,  who  was  then  in  trouble  with  his  landlord.  Now, 
on  July  4th,  1595,  Roger,  Earl  of  Rutland,  brought  a  suit  by  James 
Morice  his  attorney  in  the  Court  of  Wards1,  stating  that  his  father2 
Edward,  Earl  of  Rutland,  was  in  possession  of  the  Mansion  House  of 
the  late  dissolved  house  of  St  John's  in  Holywell,  by  a  lease  from 
her  Majesty  for  divers  years  yet  unexpired.  In  1573  his  father2  had 
granted  a  lease  of  21  years  to  "William  Adams  of  a  tenement 
adjoyning  to  the  Holywell  gate,  and  next  adjoyning  to  the  Porter's 

1  Court  of  Wards  and  Liveries,  Michaelmas,  38  Eliz.;  also  Inq.  P.  M. 
Edward  Earl  of  Rutland  30  Eliz.  Part  n.  no.  52. 

2  Should  be  "uncle." 


94       THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [en. 

Lodge  of  his  great  Mansion  House  for  21  years."  Adams  was  to 
keep  it  in  repair.  But  he  assigned  it  to  Stephen  Lorymer,  who 
had  died;  Lorymer's  widow  had  married  Robert  Braynesford,  and 
Morice  applied  to  the  Court  to  make  him  pay  cost  of  reparations. 
Braynesford  pleaded  that  the  only  person  liable  for  repairs  was 
William  Adams.  Was  this  the  navigator  William  Adams  of 
Japanese  fame? 

The  young  Earl  of  Rutland  went  abroad  in  September,  1595. 
SirThomasLake  wrote  to  Sidney  on  October  ist,  I5951,  "My  Lord 
of  Rutland  hath  leave  to  Travayle  and  departed  within  ten  days. 
His  first  visit  will  be  to  you."  George  Gilpin,  writing  to  Sidney 
from  the  Hague  on  the  22nd,  said  "  I  hope  ere  long,  to  see  you  here 
with  my  Lord  of  Rutlande."2  On  the  2gth  of  November  Rowland 
Whyte  told  Sidney  he  had  "delivered  his  letter  to  Mr  Roger 
Manners,  with  praises  of  his  nephew  at  which  he  is  glad."3 

So  Southampton  would  not  at  that  time  have  him  for  a  com- 
panion, and  this  would  throw  him  even  more  into  the  society  of 
Elizabeth  Vernon.  She  may  be  supposed  to  have  been  one  of  "the 
faire  ladies  who  doe  daily  trip  the  Measures  in  the  Council 
Chamber"  as  Whyte  told  Sidney  on  December  8th,  1595. 

.  A  curious  letter  of  that  year  I  cannot  pass  by  without  noting, 
because  of  the  peculiar  phrase  about  the  "moon's  eclipse."4  If  we 
could  discover  to  what  person  it  applies,  we  could  throw  light  on 
Sonnet  cvu.  "I  left  the  moon  in  the  wane  at  my  last  being  at  the 
Court;  I  hear  now  it  is  a  half  moon  again,  yet  I  think  it  will  never 
be  at  the  full,  though  I  hope  it  will  never  be  eclipsed,  you  know 
whom  I  mean,"  said  Sir  Thomas  Cecil  to  his  brother  Sir  Robert 
on  July  gth,  1595. 

One  of  the  popular  dramatists  essayed  to  glorify  the  Queen 
and  honour  her  favourites  in  the  quaint  poem  "Anglorum  Feriee 
Englandes  Hollydayes.  By  George  Peele.  1596,"  an  account  of 
the  jousts  arranged  to  celebrate  the  anniversary  of  the  accession 
of  Q.  Elizabeth  "celebrated  the  iyth  of  Novemb.  last,  1595."  A 
list  of  knights  who  were  present  is  given: — "Reno wined  Cum- 
berland "  the  Challenger,  the  Earl  of  Essex  and  Ewe,  the  Earl  of 
Sussex  led  as  defendants. 

1  Sidney  Papers,  I.  352.  2  Ibid.  355 

8  Ibid.  356.  *  Salisb.  Papers,  v.  273. 


PLATE   III 


THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON  IN  A  SUIT  OF  WHITE, 


vn]  CAUSES  OF  GOSSIP  95 

Then  Bedforde  and  South-Hampton  made  up  five 

Five  valeant  English  Earles.   South-Hampton  ran 

As  Bevis  of  South-Hampton  yt  good  knighte 

Had  iusted  in  the  honor  of  the  day, 

And  certes  Bevis  was  a  mighty  man, 

Valeant  in  armes  gentle  and  debonaire. 

And  suche  was  younge  Wriothesley  yt  came 

As  yf  in  dutie  to  his  Soveraigne. 

And  honors  race  for  all  that  he  had  donne, 

He  wolde  be  of  the  noblest  over  nunne. 

Lyke  to  himselfe  and  to  his  Ancestors, 

Ran  Bedforde  to  express  his  redyness. 


CHAPTER  VIII 


SIR  JOHN  HAWKINS  had  died  on  12  November,  1595, near  Panama, 
and  on  the  28th  day  of  the  first  month  of  the  year  1595-6  Sir 
Francis  Drake1,  the  terror  of  the  Spaniards,  worn  out  by  disease  and 
disappointments,  died  in  his  ship  The  Defiance  off  the  coast  of  Porto 
Bello,  Panama.  Prince,  in  his  Worthies  of  Devon^  quotes  some  lines 
by  an  unknown  author  concerning  the  end  of  this  great  captain : 

The  waves  became  his  winding  sheet,  the  waters  were  his  tomb; 
But  for  his  fame  the  ocean  sea  was  not  sufficient  room. 

It  is  surprising  how  soon  the  sad  news  crossed  the  sea  and  moved 
the  hearts  of  his  fellow-countrymen.  At  the  same  time  it  hastened 
Elizabeth's  naval  activities  in  waters  nearer  home.  She  proclaimed  the 
intended  expedition  under  the  Lord  Admiral  and  the  Earl  of  Essex. 
"  Her  Majesty  hath  good  intelligence  of  perfect  amity  with  all  Kings 
and  princes  of  Christendom,  saving  with  theKing  of  Spain."2  When 
Calais  was  besieged  by  the  Spaniards,  Elizabeth  offered  to  help  the 
French  King  against  them,  and  raised  troops  in  Kent  to  repair  to 
Dover  for  the  purpose;  but  the  offer  was  declined  and  Calais  taken, 
and  a  large  English  and  Dutch  fleet  was  sent  to  attack  Cadiz.  By 
April  1596  a  warrant  for  ^4000  was  granted  the  leaders3.  By  the 
1 5th  of  May,  Essex  and  the  Admiral  were  at  Plymouth  with  the 
army.  They  started  early  in  June,  but,  being  set  back  by  contrary 
winds,  it  was  the  gth  of  that  month  before  they  finally  set  sail. 
The  Lord  Admiral  was  in  the  Ark,  Essex  in  the  Due  Repulse^  Lord 
Thomas  Howard,  second  son  of  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  in  the 
Miranore^  and  the  Rear- Admiral  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  in  the  War- 
spite.  The  Dutch  Admiral  Duvenvoord  was  in  the  Neptune.  The 
question  is,  did  the  Earl  of  Southampton  go  with  them?  Modern 
biographers  say  he  did,  but  I  can  find  no  support  for  that  opinion, 
except  the  manuscript  copy  of  Thomas  Wilson's  translation  of  the 
Diana*  from  the  Spanish  of  Gorges  de  Montemayor,  1596.  He 

1  D.S.S.P.  Eliz.  CCLVII.  48.  a  Stow,  768. 

8  Burleigh's  Diary.  4  B.M.  Add.  MS.  18,638. 


CH.  vmj         SEA  DREAMS  AND  ACTIONS  97 

dedicated  it  to  "the  Earl  of  Southampton,  now  upon  the  Spanish 
voyage  with  my  Lord  the  Earl  of  Essex." 

The  State  papers  do  not  include  his  name,  nor  do  Camden,  Stow, 
Baker,nor  any  other  contemporaryhistorian.  It  is  most  likely  that  the 
translator  had  forgotten1.  It  is  quite  certain  that  Southampton  had 
wished  to  go.  As  early  as  March  I  ;th,  1 595-6,  the  Lord  Admiral, 
writing  to  Cecil,  said  2, "  I  thank  you  for  your  good  news.  My  Lord 
Thomas  Howard  and  the  Earl  of  Southampton  was  with  me  when 
your  letter  came.  There  came  to  us,  being  aboard  of  the  Due  Repulse, 
the  Earl  of  Cumberland,  and  he  seemed  to  be  much  grieved  with 
that  he  is  stayed;  but  I  dealt  so  with  him,  as  he  knoweth  how  it  must 
be."  On  April  I3th,  when  they  were  at  Dover3,  the  Queen 
instructed  Essex  to  take  only  such  as  had  licence  to  go,  viz. 
"Sussex,  Rich,  Herbert,  Burgh,  but  not  Derby  and  Southampton." 
A  letter  of  the  1 6th,  from  Essex  to  Cecil,  must  have  crossed  this, 
in  which  Essex  says,  "  I  know  not  whether  Lords  Southampton  and 
Compton,  who  are  here,  have  licence  to  go.  I  have  charged  them 
to  return  else,  and  if  they  come  on  board  without  it  will  send  them 
back.  Lord  Mountjoy  has  shewn  me  his  warrant.  I  am  resolved 
that  obedience  is  better  than  sacrifice."4 

In  the  list  of  the  "names  of  the  army  that  went  abroad"  that 
of  Southampton  does  not  appear,  but  in  the  Earl  of  Sussex's  Regi- 
ment Captain  William  Harvey  is  mentioned,  with  300  soldiers5. 

On  theother  hand,  from  London  in  June,  1 596,  Southampton  wrote 
to  Sir  John  Stanhope6  about  the  advowson  of  Worthing  Vicarage, 
and  on  July  ist  executed7  a  power  of  attorney  to  William  Rounching 
to  receive  of  George,  Earl  of  Cumberland,  and  John  Taylor  his 
servant  one  thousand  pounds8.  It  does  not  seem  very  likely  that 
Southampton  was  in  the  army,  seeing  that  Sir  George  Gifford 
wrote  him  news  of  the  events9 :  "  Departing  from  Plymouth  the  gth 
of  June,"  hallyng  "between  30  or  40  leagues  off,  for  fear  of  being 
discovered  upon  the  coast,  we  ran  in  upon  our  height,  the  2Oth  of 
the  same  for  Cales  (Cadiz)  and  the  day  before  Sir  Walter  Rawly 
having  given  chase  with  some  other  of  his  squadron  to  9  sail  bound 

1  Add.  MS.  18,638,  see  p.  3.  *  Salisb.  Papers,  vi.  102. 

•  D.S.S.P.  Eliz.  CCLVII.  24.  «  Ibid.  35. 

6  Ibid.  60.  '  Ibid.  CCLIX.  42.    See  ante,  p.  84. 

7  In  possession  of  Mr.  Thomas  Orde,  says  Gerald  Massey. 

•  Birch.  Mem.  Eliz.  n.  '  Salisb.  Papers,  xm.  577. 


S.S. 


98       THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

for  the  Indies,  was  by  4  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  in  manner  come 
up  with  them  and  an  unfortunate  and  sudden  fog,  despite  the  good 
success  that  we  were  in  hope  to  have,  took  us,  that  we  were  not  able 
that  night  till  12  of  the  clock  to  see  two  ships  long  from  us,  whereby 
we  were  frustrated  of  that  hope.... Sunday  our  generals  anchored  at 
mouth  of  the  harbour  of  Cadiz  where  one  fort  played  on  us  to  little 
purpose."  Gifford,  describing  the  fight,  says  that u  Sir  Walter  Rawly 
and  our  general  defeated  the  Spaniards  who  set  themselves  on  fire. 
Our  general  landed  4000  men,  others  were  to  follow.  Cadiz  was 
14  miles  off,  but  they  never  stopped  until  they  reached  the  market 
place.  Sir  John  Wingfield  was  killed,  and  two  more  of  command, 
two  hundred  in  all  slain."  They  stayed  14  days,  and  buried  there 
Sir  John  Wingfield  in  the  church  of  St  Sebastian  with  great  honour. 
"They  won  great  honour  for  their  mercifulness,  letting  the  men, 
women  and  children  depart.  In  Cales  Road,  5th  July  1596." 
The  Lord  Admiral  wrote  to  his  father-in-law1:  "I  can  assure  you 
there  is  not  a  braver  man  in  the  world  than  the  Earl  is,  in  my  simple 
poor  judgement,  a  grave  soldier,  for  what  he  did  is  in  great  order 
and  good  discipline  performed.  We  finished  our  business  in  Cadiz  by 
the  3rd  of  July."  Among  the  knights  made  for  signal  bravery  before 
Cadiz  on  the  2jth  June  were  Sir  Matthew  Browne,  Sir  Humphrey 
Drewell,  Sir  William  Harvey,and  Sir  Gelly  Meyrick2.  Essex  wanted 
to  keep  Cadiz  and  go  on  to  the  Azores.  But  many  of  them  wanted 
to  return  home  with  their  booty,  others  thought  they  had  not 
sufficient  men  for  further  action,  and  Essex  was  forced  against  his 
will  to  come  home.  They  arrived  in  England  on  the  yth-Sth 
of  August.  Burleigh  in  his  Diary  notes:  "August.  Letters  written 
to  the  Lord  Admirall  arryved  at  Plymouth,  and  to  the  Earl  of  Essex 
arrived  at  Portsmouth,  and  to  the  Dutch  commander  Duvenvoord, 
of  thanks  for  their  services."  If  Southampton  started,  it  must  have 
been  as  stowaway,  and  he  must  have  been  duly  sent  back.  But 
nowhere  is  there  any  notice  of  his  presence. 

A  statement  becomes  important  when  it  is  made  to  bear  the  whole 
weight  of  proof.  Hence  it  is  necessary  to  check  the  oft-repeated 
assertion  that  Southampton  took  part  in  the  Spanish  voyage  of  1 596. 
The  manuscript  copy  of  the  Diana  of  Montemayor  in  the  British 
Museum  was  transcribed  by  the  translator  himself  for  presentation 

1  Add.  MS.  18,638.  2  Stow's  Chronicles,  and  Collins,  iv.  146. 


vinj  SEA  DREAMS  AND  ACTIONS  99 

"to  the  Right  Honourable  Sir  FulkeGreville  Knt.  Privie  Councillor 
to  his  Majestic  and  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  my  most  honorable 
and  truly  worthy  to  be  honoured  frend."  He  states  "Sir,  heere  have 
you  att  length  the  transcription  of  this  peece  of  my  ydle  younger 
labours,  which  I  have  clothed  in  greene,  as  being  some  of  the  fruits 
of  my  greene  yeares,  and  done  only  to  entertaine  my  thoughts 
and  to  keep  my  English  in  journeying... (after  fifteen  years  painfully 
spent  in  university  studies) —  I  know  that  you  will  esteem  of  them, 
because  that  your  most  noble  and  never  enough  honoured  friend  Sir 
Philip  Sidney  did  very  much  affect  and  imitate  the  excellent  author 
thereof."  Now,  as  he  transcribed  the  translation,  he  also  noted  on 
its  first  page  another  association  of  his  early  work,  "Diana  de 
Montemayor  done  out  of  Spanish  by  Thomas  Wilson  Esquire,  in 
the  yeare  1 596,  and  dedicated  to  the  Erie  of  Southampton  who  was 
then  uppon  ye  Spanish  voiage  with  my  Lord  the  Erie  of  Essex." 

It  is  quite  clear  that  he  translated  this  dedication  in  1596;  but 
there  is  just  a  possibility  that  he  dedicated  his  work  after  he  came 
home,  and,  looking  back  after  the  lapse  of  years,  confused  Essex's 
first  and  second  voyages. 

The  next  question  which  arises  is,  why  is  there  no  notice  taken 
of  this  dedication  by  the  contemporary  world?  Why  was  the  work 
not  printed?  Now,  if  it  had  been  dedicated  in  1597,  ^  ^  think  it 
must  have  been,  Southampton  had  already  fallen  into  the  whirl  of 
public  life,  absorption  in  love-making,  royal  disfavour.  Demands  upon 
his  time  and  purse  would  be  necessarily  delayed,  and  then,  somebody 
else  was  known  to  be  translating  the  Diana — not  only  translating 
it,  but  having  it  printed,  in  1 598,  and  dedicated  to  no  less  a  personage 
than  Lady  Rich.  Wilson  himself  might  not  wish  his  translation  to 
compete  with  the  other;  Southampton  might  not  like  to  have 
anything  printed  which  could  in  any  way  displease  Lady  Rich. 
The  Diana  was  "translated  out  of  Spanish  into  English  by  Bar- 
tholomew Yong  of  the  Middle  Temple  Gentleman."  Yong  dedi- 
cated it  to  Lady  Rich,  praising  her  linguistic  learning,  from  High 
Ongar  in  Essex,  on  the  28th  of  November,  1598.  It  was  printed 
by  Edmund  Bollifant,  1598. 

Gerald  Massey  said  that  Mr  Astle  had  seen  Southampton's  name 
included  among  those  who  went  to  Cadiz  in  1596,  under  the  head 
of  "Militaria,"  in  the  Record  Office.  I  have  been  unable  to  find  it 

7—2 


loo     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

under  what  is  left  of  that  section;  though  I  find  communications 
about  the  taking  of  Cadiz  and  the  Spanish  loss  of  four  million  pounds. 
It  is  strange  that  the  defeat  of  the  Spanish  Armada  should  have 
been  left  unnoticed  at  the  time  in  English  literature.  But  Essex's 
success  at  Cadiz  has  been  commemorated  by  the  greatest  poet  of 
the  day.  Spenser  in  his  Prothalamium  says  of  him 

A  worthy  Peer 

Great  England's  glory,  and  the  world's  wide  wonder 

Whose  dreadful  name  late  thro'  all  Spain  did  thunder 

And  Hercules  two  pillars  standing  near 

Did  make  to  quake  and  fear : 

Fair  branch  of  honor,  flower  of  chivalry 

That  fillest  England  with  the  triumph's  fame 

Joy  have  thou  of  thy  noble  victory, 

And  endless  happiness  of  thine  own  name, 

That  promisest  the  same; 

That  thro'  thy  prowess  and  victorious  arms 

Thy  country  may  be  freed  from  foreign  harmes 

And  great  Eliza's  glorious  name  may  ring 

Thro'  all  the  world,  filled  with  thy  wide  alarms 

Which  some  brave  muse  may  sing 

To  ages  following. 

There  is  a  lengthy  report  of  the  Spanish  voyage,  which  does  not 
seem  to  have  been  printed,  among  the  Loseley  Papers.  At  first  the 
Queen  even  thought  more  might  have  been  done  than  was  done, 
considering  the  expense;  and,  when  news  came  in  September  that 
the  Spanish  West  India  Fleet  had  arrived  in  Lisbon  two  days  after 
Essex  was  practically  forced  to  return  without  finishing  his  plan, 
she  became  very  dissatisfied 1. 

Though  there  is  no  record  of  Southampton  at  Court  that  year, 
we  must  believe  that  he  stayed  in  the  country,  mortified  and  fretting, 
with  a  good  deal  of  unpleasant  legal  business  to  get  through.  He 
was  very  much  handicapped  by  the  extravagance  and  liberality  of 
his  father.  There  seems  to  have  been  many  hitches  in  his  affairs, 
and  he  had  little  power  to  work  his  own  will.  He  attempted  to 
earn  something  by  mercantile  transactions.  Anthony  Ashley2,  who 
made  the  financial  preparations  for  the  Spanish  expedition,  writing 
to  Cecil,  referred  to  the  important  matter  committed  to  his  charge. 

1  Birch,  Memoirs  of  Reign  of  Elizabeth,  vol.  n.  pp.  271-3. 

2  Salisb.  Papers,  vi.  158. 


FIII]  SEA  DREAMS  AND  ACTIONS  101 

"I  do  find  that  some  parties  interested  have  been  earnestly  dealt 
with  from  the  Earls  of  Derby  and  Southampton  to  buy  the  thing 
with  warrant  to  save  themselves  harmless  from  all  danger,  April 
28th  1596."  It  is  not  quite  clear  what  "the  thing"  was,  but  it 
was  probably  a  foreign  prize.  Southampton1  had  evidently  not  then 
gained  possession  of  all  his  property  from  the  crown,  and  had  applied 
for  it.  After  a  list  of  the  "cases  adjudged  for  the  Queen  1596"  is 
entered  "My  Lord  of  Southampton's  case  for  the  inheritance  of 
all  his  lands — 2000  marks  per  annum." 

In  later  days  Edward  Gage  and  William  Chamberlain  implored 
Cecil  to  realise  the  burdens  on  the  Earl's  property2.  They  shew  that 
the  land  in  the  Earl's  possession,  with  houses  and  park,  was  valued 
at  £1045.  18*.  per  annum  and  certain  common  fields  etc.  at  about 
£100 — in  all  £1145.  i8/.  Annuities  issuing  out  of  this  amounted 
to  £395  per  annum;  leaving  £750.  18^.,  out  of  which  other  rents, 
fees,  and  annuities  payable  are  £80,  and  in  charges  of  houses,  park, 
and  office  at  least  £100.  So  there  was  not  remaining  sufficient  to 
pay  his  heavy  debts  and  keep  himself.  "The  now  Earl,  by  a  deed 
of  gift  dated  loth  February  1596  did  grant  all  his  leases  unto  the 
said  Ralph  Hare,  Edward  Gage  and  William  Chamberlain,"  for 
purposes  of  repaying  them,  and  the  trustees  bought  the  inheritance 
with  their  money,  to  enable  him  to  do  so,  from  the  Lord  Treasurer. 
They  then  explain  other  leases  until  1602.  "The  late  Earl  died 
being  greatly  indebted,"  and  the  now  Earl  handed  over  all  his 
leases  to  his  executors  to  meet  his  liabilities,  the  Countess's 
fortune  not  included. 

Yet  he  wanted  to  serve  the  Queen.  To  this  date  should  probably 
be  referred  Southampton's  letter  to  Cecil,  giving  no  news  but 
referring  to  past  favours.  "P.S.  Though  my  fortune  was  never  so 
good  as  to  enjoy  any  favour  from  her  Majesty,  that  might  make 
me  desire  to  stay  in  her  court,  yet  should  I  account  myself  infinitely 
unhappy,  if  with  the  loss  of  serving  her,  I  should  likewise  lose  her 
good  conceit  of  me,  wherefore  I  pray  you  to  study  to  prosecute  that, 
and  I  will  direct  the  whole  course  of  my  life  to  do  her  service."3 

The  Earl  of  Rutland,  after  he  came  back  from  the  continent, 
desired  to  see  something  of  war.  "  Among  the  Captains  named  as 

1  Salisb.  Papers,  vi.  553.        »  D.S.S.P.  Eliz.  CCLXXVIII.  132,  133,  134. 
*  Ibid.  CCLXIV.  2. 


102     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

suitors  to  be  employed  in  Ireland"  in  1596  is  "the  Earl  of  Rutland."1 
He  seems  to  have  been  allowed  to  go,  or  to  have  taken  leave,  as 
in  a  letter  to  Cecil  he  says,  "You  will  give  me  leave  amongst  the 
rest  of  your  friends  to  recommend  my  service  and  best  affection  to 
you,  being  infinitely  glad  that  her  Majestic  was  not  acquainted 
with  my  going,  for  I  protest  I  should  not  have  been  stayed  for 
anything  in  the  world,  so  much  I  desire  to  know  and  see  the  wars."2 

Dr  Richard  Fletcher,  Bishop  of  London,  who  had  been  trouble- 
some about  Heneage's  burial  fees,  died  on  June  1 6th,  1 596. 

Sir  Henry  Carey,  Lord  Hunsdon,  the  Lord  Chamberlain,  died 
at  Somerset  House  in  the  Strand  on  July  23rd,  1596  (Stow  says 
the  22nd).  His  son  succeeded  to  his  tide,  but  not  to  his  office,  which 
was  bestowed  on  Lord  Cobham.  Hence  arose  the  change  in  the 
title  of  Burbage's  players  from  'the  Lord  Chamberlain's  servants '  to 
'Lord  Hunsdon 's  servants' — but  not  for  long,  for  Lord  Cobham 
died  early  in  the  following  year.  He  had  signed  the  petition  against 
the  players  in  Blackfriars  and  against  the  use  of  the  name  Oldcastle3. 

On  August  i  gth  the  Scots  made  a  firm  peace  with  England4. 
Sir  Thomas  Wilkes  wrote  to  Thomas  Edmondes5,  "Sir  Richard 
Bingham  has  come  over  without  leave,  and  the  oldest  Countess  of 
Derby  hath  departed  this  life,  3Oth  September  1596,  Greenwich." 
Camden  in  his  Annals  records  her  death.  He  says  of  her:  "Only 
daughter  of  Henry  Clifford,  Earl  of  Cumberland,  and  Eleanor 
Brandon  niece  of  Henry  VIII,  who,  out  of  her  womanish  fancy 
and  curiosity,  consulting  with  wizards  with  a  vain  credulity,  and 
out  of  I  know  not  what  ambitious  hope,  did  in  a  manner  lose  the 
Queen's  favour  before  she  died."6 

James  Burbage7,  the  founder  of  the  British  stage,  was  buried  on 
February  2nd,  1596-7  in  St  Leonard's,  Shoreditch.  He  left  two 
sons,  Cuthbert  and  the  famous  Richard. 

Birch8  tells  an  amusing  story  of  the  quarrel  between  the  Earl 
of  Northumberland  (Essex's  brother-in-law)  and  the  Earl  of  South- 
ampton early  in  1 596—7  It  seemed  very  likely  to  have  proceeded  to 
a  duel,  as  it  produced  a  challenge.  The  copies  of  the  papers  which 

1  Salisb.  Papers,  vi.  559.          l  Ibid.  vn.  329. 

*  My  Burbage  and  Shakespeare's  Stage,  p.  66. 

4  Burleigh's  Diary.  »  D.S.S  P.  Eliz.  CCLX.  39. 

'  Gamden's Elizabeth,  p.  596.    7  ~M.y  Burbage  and  Shakespeare's  Stage,  p.  66. 

•  Birch,  Memoirs  of  Reign  of  Elizabeth,  n.  274. 


vm]  SEA  DREAMS  AND  ACTIONS  103 

had  passed  between  them  were  sent  to  Mr  A.  Bacon,  with  a  letter, 
dated  from  the  Court,  giving  an  account  of  the  affair.  "The  gentle- 
man whom  the  Earl  of  Southampton  sent  with  his  rapier,  coming 
to  do  his  message,  upon  his  naming  Lord  Southampton,  his  Lordship 
instantly  embraced  him,  asking  him  if  he  had  brought  him  a  challenge 
which  (he  says)  if  he  did  I  accept  it  beforehand.  His  answers  were, 
that  he  did  not;  only  he  brought  his  rapier,  which  the  night  before 
he  promised  to  send,  withal  appointing  time  and  place  that  same 
day.  My  reply  was  that  Southampton  had  not  a  novice  in  hand, 
I  knew  well  when  I  was  before  or  behind  on  points  of  honour;  and 
therefore  I  had  nothing  to  say  further,  unless  I  were  challenged. 
After  his  departure  he  returned  within  the  space  of  half  an  hour 
and  brought  me  a  challenge  absolutely,  but  in  mine  opinion  stuffed 
with  strange  conditions,  for  he  would  both  have  assigned  the  place 
and  the  time,  and  have  chosen  the  rapier  single,  because  his  arm 
was  hurt  with  the  ballon.  My  reply  was  that  I  knew  the  Earl 
played  not  with  his  left  hand,  and  that  I  would  stay  to  press  him, 
till  his  arm  were  well.  Afterwards  I  would  appoint  everything  apt 
in  such  a  case.  But  within  one  hour  after,  her  Majesties  command- 
ment was  laid  upon  us  with  the  bond  of  allegiance.  We  went  to 
court,  where  we  were  called  before  the  Lords.  The  conclusion  was 
this,  that  they  assured  of  their  honours,  they  knew  that  he  had  not 
spoken  these  words,  which  afterwards  he  affirmed.  My  answer  was, 
that  I  rather  believed  their  Lordships  than  any  other;  and  therefore 
the  lie  I  had  given  was  nothing;  and  so  revoked  he  his  challenge, 
and  we  made  friends.  This  is  the  end  of  an  idle  tale."  Like  Touch- 
stone in  As  you  like  it  (v.  4.  92): 

We  quarrel  in  print  by  the  book. 

A  few  other  things  that  happened  during  1597  should  be  noted. 

George  Brooke1,  second  son  of  Lord  Cobham,  wrote  of  the 
serious  illness  of  his  father  at  Blackfriars  on  the  5th  of  March 
1596-7.  He  died  during  that  night.  The  second  Lord  Hunsdon 
succeeded  him  as  Lord  Chamberlain,  his  son  Henry,  Lord  Cobham, 
as  Warden  of  the  Cinque  Ports.  On  the  7th  the  latter  wrote  very 
much  distressed  about  the  arrangements  for  his  father's  funeral. 
For  some  unexplained  reason  Burleigh2  would  not  allow  the  funeral 

1  Salisb.  Papers,  vn.  96.  2  Birch,  Mem.  n.  274. 


104     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

to  take  place  from  London.  This  prohibition  would  entail  his 
"bringing  all  the  staff  from  Blackfriars  and  Canterbury  to  this  mean 
house,  Cobham  Hall  lyth  March  1597." 

After  that,  Lord  Hunsdon's  players  became  the  Lord  Chamber- 
lain's again1.  Richard  Bancroft,  appointed  in  1584  Rector  of 
St  Andrew's,  Holborn,  became  Bishop  of  London  in  1597,  an^ 
the  Queen,  by  her  prerogative,  named  his  successor  John  King  to 
St  Andrew's  (loth  May).  The  living  was  in  the  gift  of  South- 
ampton; but  the  Queen's  privilege  conceded  it. 

There  is  no  recorded  notice  of  Southampton's  love-making — the 
young  people  evidently  took  more  care  now  not  to  attract  attention. 
But  gossip  had  another,  even  more  spicy,  morsel  for  society.  Whyte 
told  Sir  Robert  Sidney  "a  Speech  goes  that  my  Lady  Southampton2 
will  have  Sir  William  Harvey,  2Oth  May  1597."  Perhaps  he  had 
been  helping  her  again  through  some  little  bits  of  business.  I  found 
lately  among  the  uncalendared  papers  of  the  Court  of  Requests  a 
Book  of  Orders  in  fragments,  with  the  entries :  "  On  1 6th  April  1 597 
The  Countess  of  Southampton  to  shew  cause  why  she  should  not 
answer,  and  deliver  evidences  upon  her  othe  on  Tuesday  next."3 
"Tuesday  igth  April  1597  Smallfinch  and  Countess  Southampton. 
The  plaintiff  to  amend  his  bill  in  this  point,  that  the  lands  are 
houlden  in  capite^  and  that,  by  reason  thereof  prymer  seizen  is  due 
to  her  Majestic,  and  then  her  Ladyship  to  answer  on  her  othe." 

One  of  the  Queen's  young  subjects  was  already  longing  to  join 
the  whirl  of  Court  life,  the  young  William,  Lord  Herbert,  son  of 
the  Earl  of  Pembroke  (born  1580).  Whyte  tells  Sidney  that  "he 
hath  with  much  adoe,  brought  his  father  to  consent  that  he  may 
live  in  London,  but  not  until  next  spring.... My  Lady  Rich  is 
recovered  of  her  small  pox,  without  any  blemish  to  her  beautiful 
face  igth  April  1597."* 

Rowland  Whyte  gives  us  a  little  bit  of  private  life  at  the  beginning 
of  1596-7.  Sir  Robert  Sidney's  wife  had  a  daughter  in  London, 
but  she  would  settle  nothing  about  the  christening  until  she  heard 
from  her  husband  about  his  plans;  he  was  abroad5. 

The  Earl  of  Southampton  was  invited  on  February  2ist;  on  the 
next  day  Whyte  wrote:  "My  Lord  of  Southampton  did  take  it 

1  Newcourt's  Repertorium,  I.  272.    Salisb.  Papers,  vn.  147. 

2  Sidney  Papers,  n.  53.  !  U.C.R.  Eliz.  Bundle,  various,  377. 
4  Sidney  Papers,  n.  43.  5  Ibid.  n.  20,  21,  22. 


vmj  SEA  DREAMS  AND  ACTIONS  105 

exceeding  kindly  that  he  was  desired  to  be  a  godfather,  and  will  most 
willingly  do  it."  "My  Lady  Sussex  and  my  Lady  Bedford  invited 
for  the  christening  on  ist  of  March.  My  Lady  Sussex  named  her 
Bridget.  The  two  countesses  of  Derby  and  Southampton  were  there. 
My  Lord  of  Southampton,  my  Lord  Compton,Sir  Thomas  Garrett, 
and  Mr  Roger  Manners  bid  them  all  welcome  in  your  name." 
(This  Bridget,  the  Earl's  goddaughter,  died  on  the  25th  March,  1 599, 
at  the  age  of  two  years  and  four  months,  and  was  buried  in  the  chancel 
of  Penshurst,  before  her  father  was  estranged  from  her  godfather 
through  the  Essex  rising.)  On  the  2nd  March,  Whyte  goes  on  to 
say  that  "L.  Southampton  hath  leave  to  travel  for  a  year,  and 
purposes  to  be  with  you  before  Easter."1  But  he  changed  his  mind, 
for  on  April  gth,  1597,  Whyte  told  Sidney,  "My  Lord  Thomas 
Howard,  by  the  end  of  next  week,  goes  to  sea,  and  Sir  Walter  Rawley 
with  them.  My  Lord  Southampton  by  200  meanes  hath  gotten 
leave  to  goe  with  them,  and  is  appointed  to  goe  in  the  Garland."2 
They  were  not  quite  so  quick  about  it  as  Whyte  at  first  expected, 
for  by  4th  May  they  were  still  on  land.  "  My  Lord  Borow  went 
to  St  Albans  yesternight,  very  well  accompanied;  for  my  Lords 
Southampton  and  Compton,  Lord  Thomas  and  Sir  Walter  Rawley 
lay  with  them  there  all  night.  Yesterday  morning  he  was  with  my 
Lord  of  Essex  at  Barnes,  and  came  back  with  him  in  his  coach."3 
A  little  bit  of  indirect  information  concerning  Southampton  is 
found  in  a  petition  to  Cecil  on  May  yth4.  Sir  Humphrey  Drewell, 
his  old  servant,  who,  with  Florio,  wanted  to  duck  the  Sheriff  of 
Southampton  for  interfering  in  the  Danvers  affair  in  1594,  was 
now  imprisoned  for  his  supposed  connection  with  Sir  Thomas 
Arundel's  servant,  Smallman.  He  said  that  on  Monday  he  had  been 
to  see  Lord  Southampton,  who  was  evidently  staying  with  or  visiting 
his  sister,  Lady  Mary  Arundel,  in  Arundel  House  in  the  Strand.  On 
Tuesday  he  went  there  again,  because  he  heard  that  Smallman 
wanted  to  see  him,  and  he  went  out  at  the  back  door  to  advise 
Smallman  to  give  himself  up,  or  it  would  go  worse  with  his  master. 
That  was  all  he  had  to  do  with  the  man,  and  Drewell  begged  Cecil 
to  secure  him  liberty. 

1  Sidney  Papers,  n.  24. 

2  Ibid.  n.  37.    Cipher  number  for  Sir  Robert  Cecil  200.    Essex  was  1000, 
Southampton  3000. 

3  Ibid.  ii.  50.  *  Salisb.  Papers,  vii.  189. 


io6     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

Southampton  would  be  specially  careful  of  his  own  doings  at  this 
time,  for  at  last  he  seemed  about  to  secure  the  desire  of  his  heart, 
a  good  sea-fight.  Whyte  says  on  the  2nd  of  June,  "My  Lord  of 
Essex's  patent  is  drawing"  and  enumerates  those  who  he  thought 
were  going  to  sea.  Chamberlain1,  on  the  1 1  th,  tells  nearly  the 
same  story  to  Carleton  even  more  fully:  "The  Erie  of  Essex  is 
general  both  by  sea  and  land;  the  Lord  Thomas  Howard  Vice- 
Admiral,  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  rear-vice  Admirall,  who  is  newly  re- 
stored to  the  executing  his  place  in  Court  of  Captain  of  the  Garde; 
the  Earl  of  Southampton  the  Lord  Mountjoy  and  the  Lord  Rich,  go 
as  adventurers,  though  some  say  Lord  Mountjoy  is  to  be  Lieutenant 
General  on  land;  the  Earle  of  Darbie,  the  Lord  Gray,  the  Lord 
Windsor,  and  William  Compton  pretend  likewise  to  go,  but  it  is 
thought  shall  not  get  leave — It  is  said  that  the  Earl  of  Essex  takes 
his  leave  at  Court  on  Sunday  next  the  1 2th  of  this  present,  and  hopes 
to  be  gone  in  10  days  after.  The  presse  is  great — We  have  here  a 
new  play  of  humours  in  very  great  request  and  I  was  drawn  alonge 
to  it  by  the  common  applause  but  my  opinion  of  it  is  (as  the  fellow 
said  of  the  shearing  of  hogges)  that  there  was  a  great  cry  for  so  little 
wool."  So  Chamberlain  does  not  seem  to  have  been  impressed  by 
Shakespeare's  judgment  of  Jonson's  play,  or  his  acting  in  it. 

On  July  ist2  Southampton  wrote  Cecil  a  friendly  letter,  saying 
that  nothing  had  happened  yet  worth  his  knowledge;  he  writes  again 
on  July  loth3  in  a  very  similar  style;  on  July  igth  he  writes,  "You 
will  have  an  account  of  our  unlucky  beginning  from  the  bearer."4 

Raleigh  wrote  a  letter  from  Plymouth  on  July  6th,  1 597,  to  Cecil, 
containing  an  allusion  which  ought  to  be  re-read  in  the  light  of 
later  events.  "Wee  have  all  written  for  supply,  without  it  we  can 
do  little  or  nothing  and  we  shall  not  be  abell  to  retch  the  place  of  our 
greatest  hopes.  I  acquainted  my  Lord  Genrall  with  your  letter  to 
mee,  and  your  kind  acceptance  of  your  entertaynment.  He  was  also 
wonderfull  merry  att  your  consait  of  Richard  II.  I  hope  it  shall  never 
alter,  and  whereof  I  shalbe  most  gladd  if  it  is  the  trew  way  to  all 
our  good,  quiet  and  advancement,  and  most  of  all  for  her  sake  whose 
affairs  shall  truely  fynd  better  progression  I  will  ever  be  yours."5 

Southampton's  cousin,  Lord  Montague,  was  in  some  way  con- 

1  D.S.S.P.  Eliz.  CCLXIII.  99.  2  Ibid.  CCLXIV.  2. 

3  Ibid.  20.  *  Ibid.  34.  6  Ibid.  10. 


vinj  SEA  DREAMS  AND  ACTIONS  107 

nected  with  the  expedition.  He  wrote  to  Cecil  in  July,  "  If  you  will 
grant  me  a  warrant  for  some  post  horses  for  myself  and  company, 
I  shall  make  the  more  haste  after  my  Lord  of  Essex.  I  have  now 
dispatched  all  he  charged  me  with.  If  you  command  me  I  will 
come  to  Court  for  your  commands,  but  am  loath  to  do  so."  Essex 
reported  on  the  2Oth  that  they  had  found  Raleigh,  Carew,  Harvey, 
Throgmorton,  but  not  Lord  Thomas,  Southampton,  or  Mountjoy. 
On  the  3  ist,  however,  he  reported  these  were  safe,  and  Lord 
Thomas  notified  the  violence  of  the  storm1. 

Palavicino  on  July  26th  wrote:  "Lord  Howard  has  shewn  valour 
and  constancy  in  keeping  his  course.  May  God  prosper  him  also 
in  his  other  actions.  It  is  well  that  he  has  the  Earl  of  Southampton 
and  Lord  Mountjoy  with  him."2 

Collins  includes  with  Whyte's  letters  others  to  Sir  Robert  Sidney. 
Sir  William  Browne  (a  relative  of  Southampton  by  the  mother's  side), 
wrote  on  July  24th  from  Plymouth.  They  had  put  out  on  Sunday, 
July  loth,  in  three  squadrons,  led  by  my  Lord  of  Essex,  Lord 
Thomas  Howard,  Vice- Admiral,  and  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  Rear- 
Admiral.  On  the  first  day  all  went  well,  but  severe  storms  arose. 
"On  Monday  night,  Rawley  left  us,  our  ship  being  the  Mary  Rose, 
not  the  swiftest  of  sail  or  the  best  of  steerage."  "Lost  my  Lord 
General  on  Friday,  beat  about  until  the  Sunday  after,  when  we  were 
driven  to  go  home,  as  we  had  sprung  a  great  leak,  and  arrived  at 
Plymouth  on  Tuesday,  and  found  Rawley  there.  A  day  after  my 
Lord  General  reached  Falmouth  and  came  here  by  land.  His  ship 
is  much  injured  but  he  wants  to  start  again.  There  is  sickness  on 
board,  want  of  victuals  and  many  repairs  needed."3  No  reply  from 
Court.  On  3rd  of  August  he  wrote  again :  "  My  Lord  of  Essex  went 
up  to  Court,  to  solicit  that  something  might  yet  be  done,  Rawley 
went  with  him,  my  Lord  of  Southampton  is  also  gone  after  him."4 

A  short  account  of  the  Island  Voyage  is  given  by  Purchas  with 
no  mention  of  Southampton.  Monson,  in  his  Voyages,  gives  a  fuller 
account  of  his  own  action,  minimising  the  importance  of  Southamp- 
ton's exploit,  and  giving  an  ingenuous  story  of  Essex's  seamanship. 

Camden  gives  a  general,  all-round  history  of  the  effort  made  by 
Essex  to  carry  out  his  frustrated  plans  of  the  preceding  year. 

1  D.S.S.P,  CCLXIV.  64-65.  2  Salisb.  Papers,  vn.  319. 

»  Sidney  Papers,  n.  57  *  Ibid.  59. 


io8     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

Stow  also  follows  the  events  with  interest. 

Elizabeth  sent  Essex  orders  on  the  nth  August  that  he  was  not 
to  attack  Ferrol  in  person.  On  the  same  date  Sir  George  Carew, 
writing  to  Cecil,  says,  "Without  flattery  or  affection  he  is  a 
worthy  commander."1 

Essex  himself,  in  a  letter  to  Mr  Knollys  on  August  28th,  sends 
instructions  how  to  give  the  details  to  Elizabeth:  "We  set  sail  from 
Plymouth  17  th  of  this  month;  on  the  25th  we  made  land  east  of  Cape 
Ortegal,  on  Thursday  manoeuvred  for  wind,  on  Saturday  discovered 
the  St  Andrew  which  we  had  lost  sight  of,  no  sooner  had  I  got  her 
up  but  Rawleigh  shot  a  signal  of  distress,  having  broken  his  main  yard. 
I  willed  him  to  keep  along  the  coast  the  berth  he  was  in.  I  had  to 

be  by  to  stop  a  desperate  leak Next  morning  we  came  to  Finisterre, 

but  St  Matthew  breaking  her  foremast  went  home,  and  the  War- 
spite  and  Dreadnought  went  on  without  stop  to  South  Cape.  We 
did  not  attack  the  fleet  at  Farrol,  because  we  had  not  the  St  Matthew 
the  principal  ship  for  that  action,  nor  the  St  Andrew,  till  my  own 
was  almost  sunk,  and  I  not  able  to  make  sail  until  Rawleigh,  the 
Dreadnought  and  20  ships  were  gone.  On  3ist  last  night  heard 
from  Rawleigh  that  the  Spanish  Fleet  which  was  at  Farroll  had  gone 
to  the  Islands  to  waft  home  the  Indian  Fleet,  and  that  he  would 
lie  20  leagues  off  Burlings  till  he  heard  from  me.  Council  agreed  to 
make  for  the  Islands,  and  4  pinnaces  sent  to  advertise  Rawleigh."2 

We  have  Sir  George  Carew's  account3  of  the  troubles  of  his  ship, 
the  St  Matthew.  "On  the  22nd  of  August  we  had  foul  weather, 
my  ship  laboured  more  than  the  others,  and  broke  her  bowsprit  and 
foremast.  We  shot  off  our  ordnance  and  hanged  out  lights,  but  the 
ships  which  were  ahead  could  not  hear  it,  or  discern  it,  except  the 
Garland  the  Earl  of  Southampton's  who  an  hour  after  day  came 
to  me,  and  did  not  leave  me  till  evening.  At  that  time  my  Lord  of 
Southampton  seeing  no  possibility  for  my  ship  to  follow  the  Fleet, 
and  understanding  from  us  that  we  were  in  great  peril  to  be  lost 
by  reason  of  great  leaks,  sent  his  pinnace  unto  me  to  come 
aboard  his  ship.  Although  the  danger  I  was  in  were  inducement 
enough  unto  this,  yet  that  my  departure  might  not  discourage  the 
gentlemen  and  others  aboard  me,  I  resolved  to  take  the  fortune  of 
my  ship.  The  Earl,  fearing  to  be  embayed,  and  to  lose  the  Fleet 
1  Salisb.  Papers,  VII.  345,  371.  *  Ibid.  368.  *  Ibid.  371. 


vmj  SEA   DREAMS  AND  ACTIONS  109 

which  all  that  day  was  never  in  sight,  headed  for  his  course,  and 
left  me  a  wreck  carried  every  way  at  the  pleasure  of  the  sea....  I  had 
rather  have  lost  mine  arm  than  be  absent  from  his  service,  as  now 
I  am.  Rochelle  3ist  August." 

Southampton  did  make  up  to  the  fleet;  for  amongst  the  news 
sent  home  was  a  common  letter  written  to  Cecil1.  "We  that 
subscribe  this  letter,  send  you  many  good  wishes,  and  are  desirous 
to  have  all  our  friends  know  that  we  live  and  hope  yet  to  do  some- 
thing worth  her  Majesty's  charges.  We  are  your  assured  friends 
Essex,  Rutland,  H.  Southampton,  Howard,  C.  Mountjoy,  T.  Gray, 
Chr.  Blount,  Fr.  Vere,  A.  Sherley."  In  Essex's  handwriting  there 
is  written  against  the  signature  of  Lord  Grey,  "This  is  one  whom 
I  never  saw,  I  protest,  until  I  was  on  this  coast.  August  28th  1597." 

Whyte  wrote  to  Sidney  later:  "My  Lord  Grey  is  in  great  dis- 
pleasure and  the  Queen  threatens  to  imprison  him,  for  his  pre- 
sumption to  goe  without  leave.  And  many  other  Pensioners,  on 
their  return,  shall  suffer  for  their  faults."2 

Camden  gives  materials  for  the  remainder  of  the  voyage.  It  had 
been  arranged  that  Essex  and  Raleigh  should  attack  together,  but 
Raleigh,  outsailing  Essex,  landed  independently  at  Fayal,  took  and 
spoiled  the  island.  "Enemies  made  Essex  think  that  Raleigh  had 
done  this  to  rob  him  of  glory";  he  cashiered  Raleigh  and  his 
followers.  But  Lord  Thomas  Howard  mediated  and  persuaded  Ra- 
leigh to  acknowledge  his  fault,  and  Essex  forgave  him.  "For  Essex 
being  a  man  of  most  mild  nature,  slow  to  take  offence,  and  apt  to 
lay  down  displeasures,  forgave  old  enmities  which  were  now  wearing 
out  for  the  Commonwealth's  sake,  which  notwithstanding  on  both 
sides  were  rather  laid  asleep  than  quite  taken  away."  Essex  meant 
to  have  landed  at  Gratiosa,  but  unluckily  a  pilot  dissuaded  him, 
because  of  inconvenient  roads.  So  he  set  sail  for  St  Michael's,  com- 
manding Vere  and  Sir  Nicholas  Parker  to  watch  with  their  ships 
between  St  George's  Isle  and  Gratiosa,  and  the  Earl  of  Southampton 
and  Sir  William  Monson  with  their  ships  to  do  so  likewise  on  the 
west  side  of  Gratiosa.  But  an  hour  or  two  after,  the  American 
fleet,  seven  of  them  laden  with  treasure,  arrived,  and  hearing  of 
the  presence  of  the  English,  fled  to  Terceira.  As  they  passed  by 
Monson,  he  gave  notice,  and  he,  Southampton,  and  Vere  followed 
1  Salisb.  Papers,  vil.  369.  a  Sidney  Paptrs,  n.  74. 


no     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

them,  waiting  for  help.  Only  three  rich  ships  strayed  from  the  line 
and  were  taken,  one  of  them  by  Southampton.  He  and  Vere,  in 
great  boats,  attempted  to  enter  the  harbour  at  Terceira  at  night  to 
cut  the  cables  of  the  nearest  ships,  that  they  might  be  blown  out 
to  sea;  but,  the  Spaniards  keeping  diligent  watch,  they  lost  their 
labour.  On  the  arrival  of  Essex  there  was  a  council  of  war.  When  the 
others  saw  the  strength  of  the  defences  of  Terceira  and  the  contrary 
winds,  they  refused  to  adventure  a  landing.  After  knighting  South- 
ampton, Rutland,  and  others  for  their  valour,  Essex  landed  at  Villa 
Franca  and  found  rich  pillage  there.  A  great  tempest  rising  on 
the  gth  of  October,  he  gave  the  signal  to  go  home.  The  Spanish 
fleet  gave  chase,  but  the  English  never  saw  them.  All  of  them 
reached  home  safely,  but  many  Spanish  ships  perished. 

On  the  28th  of  October,  1597,  Whyte  wrote  to  Sidney:  "This 
morning  my  Lord  Essex's  letters  came  to  court  of  his  safe  landing 
in  Plymouth.  He  had  unfortunately  missed  the  King's  own  ships 
with  the  Indian  Treasure  but  fell  on  the  merchant  fleet.  Four  of 
them  he  hath  taken,  and  sunk  many  more,  my  Lord  of  Southampton 
fought  with  one  of  the  King's  great  men  of  war,  and  sunk  her."1 

There  is  one  curious  remembrance  of  this  enterprise,  which 
students  are  apt  to  miss,  since  it  is  preserved  among  the  papers  of 
James  I,  entered  as  "Account  of  an  expedition  made  in  Elizabeth's 
time  to  take  the  Islands  of  Azores."2  It  is  a  MS.  of  60  pages,  much 
damaged;  the  headings  are  given  in  the  Calendar,  "Good  com- 
manders are  not  to  be  judged  by  success.  The  names  of  commanders, 
captains  and  ships.  The  design  of  the  Voyage.  The  islands  are  of 
great  use  to  Spain.  Contrary  winds  the  hindrance  of  this  voyage. 
The  fleet  dispersed  by  great  tempest.  Lord  Rich  leaves  the  voyage. 
The  common  grief  for  the  loss  of  time.  An  old  custom.  The 
general  changes  his  ship,  and  the  Vice  Admiral  the  same.  Great 
storm  in  the  Bay.  The  Master  of  the  Ordnances  ship  distressed, 
the  Earl  of  Southampton  comes  to  his  relief.  The  St  Matthew  lands 
at  Rochelle.  The  Warspite  in  distress.  A  false  report.  Their  plans 
designed  for  the  whole  fleet.  The  Warspite  again  distressed  and 
repaired.  They  meet  at  the  Islands.  A  dead  calm.  A  rainbow  seen 
at  night.  Pliny's  opinion  of  rainbows  at  night.  The  Rear- Admiral 
meets  the  fleet  at  Flores.  The  Admiral  satisfied  of  the  falsehoods 
1  Sidney  Papers,  n.  jz\  *  D.S.S.E.  Jarnes  1,-Addenda  xxxvi.  94. 


vm]  SEA   DREAMS  AND  ACTIONS  in 

given  out  against  the  rear  admiral.    Lord  Grey.    Other  rainbows 
seen,  with  the  use  thereof." 

I  cannot  find  what  was  said  of  Lord  Grey;  but  we  know  that 
by  November  he  was  in  the  Fleet  prison  for  contempt  of  the 
Queen's  orders  in  joining  the  expedition. 

Some  time  that  autumn  Lady  Southampton  wrote  to  Cecil1: 
"  Yesterday's  storm  filled  my  heart  with  sourest  thoughts.  I  purpose 
to  send  presently  to  him,  whereto  I  beg  a  warrant  for  post  horses 
for  my  trusty  servant  Smith  for  his  better  speed.  P.S.  I  purpose 
Thursday  to  thank  the  Queen  for  her  favour,  I  hope  you  may  have 
some  fresh  news  for  me  then." 

Another  letter  to  Cecil2,  entered  as  November,  1597,  says:  "to 
prevent  the  fortunes  of  my  son's  letter  to  you  and  myself  I  send  mine 
to  him,  to  expect  next  dispatch,  hoping  by  your  favour  it  shall  be 
conveyed  to  him,  all  well  done  that  were  set  to  be  done,  I  wish 
I  might  hear  of  his  speedy  home-coming,  which,  if  you  think  I  may 
hope  for,  I  pray  you  give  me  a  little  light." 

On  the  return  of  the  fleet  at  the  end  of  October  Essex  was  met 
with  the  news  that  the  Queen  had  appointed  to  the  Royal  Secre- 
taryship Sir  Robert  Cecil,  a  fast  friend  of  Raleigh,  instead  of  his 
nominee,  Sir  Thomas  Bodley.  Cecil  was  also  made  Chancellor  of 
the  Duchy  of  Lancaster,  which  Essex  had  hoped  for  himself. 

The  Queen  received  Essex  coldly.  She  thought  he  ought  to  have 
done  more,  and  given  more  prominence  to  Raleigh  and  Monson. 
Grudges  grew  again  between  Essex  and  Raleigh.  She  was  also 
displeased  with  Essex  for  making  so  many  knights. 

One  of  the  complex  causes  which  induced  her  to  be  cold  to  Essex 
was  a  slander,  started  by  his  enemies,  that  before  he  went  he  had 
behaved  improperly  with  a  certain  great  lady.  Lady  Bacon,  whose 
sons  had  benefited  so  much  from  his  kindness,  took  it  on  her  to 
reproach  him  with  this,  and  exhort  him  to  repentance  He  denied 
the  story  absolutely:  "Worthy  Lady,  think  me  a  weak  man  full  of 
imperfections,  but  be  assured  I  endeavour  to  be  good,  and  had 
rather  mend  my  faults  than  cover  them."3 

Southampton  received  no  recognition  whatever  for  his  special 
bravery  in  action.  Disappointed  and  embittered,  he  turned  anew 

1  Salisb.  Papers,  vn.  539.  z  Ibid.  499. 

8  Birch,  Mem.  u.   Salisb.  Papers,  vn.  392. 


112     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

to  his  chief  consoler  Elizabeth  Vernon,  who  noted  for  his 
benefit  all  the  Queen's  varying  and  discontented  words.  A  fresh 
and  binding  attachment  was  cemented  between  them.  The  Queen 
frowned  upon  matrimony,  and  they  took  a  forbidden  path. 

Parliament  began  on  24th  October,  1597,  and  Southampton  was 
duly  summoned.  He  was  present  on  the  yth  and  26th  November 
and  on  the  I3th  and  I4th  December,  and  Parliament  rose  on  the 
8th  February,  1597-8!. 

Lady  Southampton  had  by  this  time  learned  that,  if  it  were 
painful  and  humiliating  to  be  ignored  in  her  husband's  will,  it 
might  be  difficult  and  even  dangerous  to  be  left  "sole  executrix.'* 
Probably  through  his  illness,  Sir  Thomas  Heneage  had  left  the 
onerous  duties  of  his  place  to  deputies,  who  had  both  delayed  and 
confused  the  making  up  of  his  accounts.  The  Countess  found  it 
difficult  to  square  things  that  she  did  not  understand.  Already  the 
courtiers  gossiped  about  her  affairs — Sir  John  Fortescue  wrote  to 
Cecil  on  June  gth,  1596,  "It  grieveth  me  not  a  little  that  for  my 
Lady  of  Southampton  my  Lord  your  father  should  be  blamed, 
whose  carefulness  for  her  majesty  therein  I  can  be  a  witness  of."2 

But  it  is  clear  to  those  who  have  been  through  the  accounts  of 
the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber,  in  the  Pipe  Office  and  in  the  Audit 
office,  as  well  as  the  first  payments,  that  the  fault  was  not  hers, 
but  that  of  the  invalid  Sir  Thomas  Heneage  himself,  or  of  his 
representatives.  It  is  not  clear  whether  this  following  debt  refers  to 
Lady  Southampton  or  her  husband. 

On  December  gth,  1 597,  "At  the  Savoy £275  upon  Mr  Sydney's 
order  Particular  Receiver  of  Norfolk,  Suffolk  and  Cambridge.  Money 
to  be  applied  for  the  Lady  of  Southampton,  for  a  debt  of  £163." 

At  last,  the  Queen  herself  wrote  to  the  Countess  of  Southampton 
on  December  1 6th,  1 5963,  to  say  that,  at  the  decease  of  her  late 
husband,  Sir  Thomas  Heneage,  he  had  ^1314.  15*.  4^.  in  hand 
as  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber.  "You  as  executrix  have  paid 
£401.  6s.  iod.  and  £394.  qs.  lid.  to  the  Guard.  We  require  im- 
mediate payment  of  the  balance  ^528.  i8j.  yd.  to  the  treasury 
of  the  Chamber,  on  which  you  shall  receive  acquittance  for  the 
whole  sum."  This  is  a  damaged  draft,  and  the  calculation  is  obscure. 

1  Journal  of  the  House  of  Lords,  n.  192. 

1  Salisb.  Papers,  vi.  213.  »  Cal.  D.S.S.P.  Eliz.  CCLXI.  14. 


vm]  SEA   DREAMS  AND  ACTIONS  113 

But  the  matter  seems  to  have  been  finally  settled,  as  no  further 
notice  of  it  is  preserved  after  the  above  was  copied  into  the  accounts 
of  the  Chamber  rendered  by  the  Countess  of  Southampton  for  one 
year  and  61  days1.  This  was  to  let  Killigrew2  start  clear.  More 
information  concerning  this  debt  comes  in  James'  time. 

In  Henry  Lok's  Sonnets  of  the  Author  to  divers,  collected  by  the 
Printer  published  with  Ecclesiastes,  otherwise  called  the  Preacher^ 
by  H.  L.  Gentleman,  and  The  First  Part  of  Christian  Passions, 
containing  a  hundred  Sonets  of  meditation,  humiliation,  and  prayer  by 
H.  L.,  and  printed  by  Richard  Field  in  1597,  ^e  I7t^1  Sonnet  in 
the  collection  To  divers  noblemen  is  addressed 

To  the  Right  Ho.  the  Earle  of  Southampton. 
Amongst  most  noble,  noble  everyway, 
Among  the  wise,  wise  in  a  high  degree; 
Among  the  vertuous,  vertuous  may  I  say; 
You  worthy  seeme,  right  worthy  Lord  to  mee. 
By  bloud,  by  value,  noble  we  you  see, 
By  nature,  and  by  learnings  travell  wise, 
By  love  of  good,  ils  hate,  you  vertuous  bee: 
Hence  publike  honor,  private  love  doth  rise, 
Which  hath  inuited  me  thus  to  devise, 

To  show  my  selfe  nor  slacke  to  honour  you, 
By  this  meane  gift  (since  powre  more  fit  denies) 
Which  let  me  crave  be  read,  and  held  for  true : 
Of  honor,  wisedome,  vertue,  I  delate, 
Which  (you  pursuing)  will  advance  your  state. 

1  Treasurer  of  the  Chambers'  accounts,  Pipe  Office,  542  (257),  and  Audit 
Office,  Bundle  386,  roll  33. 

2  Official  Treasurer,  pro  tern.,  to  receive  accounts  from  the  Countess  of 
Southampton  and  band  them  over  to  Sir  Thomas  Heneage's  successor,  Sir 
John  Stanhope. 


&s. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  TWO  COUNTESSES  OF  SOUTHAMPTON 

THE  year  1598  was  a  critically  important  one  in  the  fortunes  of 
the  Wriothesley  family.  The  Earl  of  Southampton  was  being  driven 
by  cross-currents  hither  and  thither,  becoming  bitter  in  the  lack 
of  royal  appreciation  and  consideration,  hampered  by  insufficient 
means  in  fulfilling  any  of  his  plans  in  the  lordly  way  he  would  have 
liked  to  do.  He  wanted  to  travel,  he  wanted  to  fight,  and,  had  things 
gone  smoothly  with  him,  and  had  the  Queen  been  kind,  he  would 
probably  then  have  quietly  married  and  been  happy.  He  had  not 
confided  in  his  loving  mother,  he  was  irritated  at  her  actions,  and  the 
spreading  gossip  about  her  galled  him.  He  had  dealt  secretly  with 
his  mentors;  he  had  grown  suspicious  and  cold  to  the'  girl  he  loved. 
He  had  done  wrong,  and  he  tried  to  remedy  it  imprudently;  he  had 
become  what  is  called,  in  a  young  man  like  him,  "a  little  wild." 
In  a  half  frenzied  hope  that  fortune  at  least  might  favour  him  if 
he  wooed  her  properly,  he  had  turned  to  hazard  what  he  had  at 
games  of  chance,  and  he  lost  in  these  also.  Meanwhile  those  who 
loved  him  suffered,  those  whom  he  loved  counselled  him  faithfully; 
but  he  could  satisfy  neither  them  nor  himself.  Much  of  this  story 
may  be  read  in  contemporary  letters,  which  can  only  be  pieced 
together  by  comparing  and  translating.  The  five  thousand  pounds 
which  he  had  to  pay  Burleigh  for  refusing  his  granddaughter  was 
a  loss  which  hampered  all  his  plans. 

The  newsmonger  Whyte  tells  Sir  Robert  Sidney  a  great  deal  for 
our  benefit.  On  the  I4th  January,  "I  heare  my  Lord  of  South- 
ampton goes  with  Mr  Secretary  to  France  and  so  onwards  on  his 
travels,  which  course  of  his  doth  exceedingly  grieve  his  Mistress, 
that  passes  her  tyme  in  weeping  and  lamenting."1  On  the  igth  he 
says,  "  I  hard  of  some  unkindnes  should  be  betweene  3000  (the 
Earl  of  Southampton)  and  his  mistress,  occasioned  by  some  report 
of  Mr  Ambrose  Willoughby,  3000  called  him  to  account  for  it,  but 
the  matter  was  made  known  to  the  Earl  of  Essex  and  my  Lord 
1  Sidney  Papers,  n.  81. 


PLATE   IV 


MAID  OF  HONOUR  TO  QUEEN  ELIZABETH 


CH.  ix]  THE  TWO  COUNTESSES  115 

Chamberlain,  who  had  them  under  examination;  what  the  cause 
is,  I  could  not  learne  for  yt  was  but  new;  but  I  see  3000  is  full  of 
discontentments."1  It  is  most  probable  that  Ambrose  Willoughby 
had  said  there  was  another  man  to  whom  the  fair  Elizabeth  was 
more  friendly  than  she  should  have  been,  and  that  this  roused  the 
Earl  to  a  hasty  challenge  of  the  tale-teller,  and  caused  a  coldness 
towards  the  lady,  whom,  being  the  cousin  of  the  Earl  of  Essex,  he 
dared  not  rate  as  if  she  had  been  a  person  of  lesser  import. 

On  the  2 ist  the  news  is:  "The  quarrel  of  my  Lord  Southampton 
to  Ambrose  Willoughby  was  this.  That  he,  with  Sir  Walter  Rawley 
and  Mr  Parker,  being  at  Primero  in  the  Presence  Chamber,  the 
Queen  was  gone  to  bed,  and  he  being  there  as  squire  of  the  body 
required  them  to  give  over.  Soone  after  he  spake  to  them  againe, 
that  if  they  would  not  leave,  he  would  call  on  the  guard  to  put 
down  the  bord,  which  Sir  Walter  Rawley  seeing,  put  up  his  money 
and  went  his  wayes.  But  my  Lord  of  Southampton  took  exceptions 
at  him,  and  told  him  he  would  remember  it,  and  soe,  fynding  him 
between  the  Tennis  Court  Wall  and  the  garden,  struck  him,  and 
Willoughby  pulled  off  some  of  his  locks.  The  Queen  gave  Wil- 
loughby thankes  for  what  he  did  in  the  presence  and  told  him,  he 
had  done  better  if  he  had  sent  him  to  the  porter's  lodge  to  see  who 
durst  have  fetched  him  out."1  Now  this  has  been  read  as  a  purely 
comic  incident,  but,  taken  with  the  previous  letter,  we  can  see  a 
much  more  serious  question  involved.  Willoughby  had  been  spread- 
ing unpleasant  gossip  about  the  only  woman  Southampton  appears 
ever  to  have  cared  for,  and  he  wanted  to  punish  the  slanderer,  but 
Essex  and  Hunsdon  prevented  this.  When  Willoughby  found  South- 
ampton trying  to  finish  a  game,  probably  as  an  expectant  winner,  he 
stopped  it  rudely  (Primero  was  not  a  noisy  game).  When  he  spoke 
of  the  guard,  Sir  Walter  was  bound  to  go,  as  he  was  nominally  their 
Captain  then.  Then,  left  alone  with  the  officious  Squire,  South- 
ampton evidently  said  sharp  words  about  his  gossip  and  this  mean 
way  of  punishing  a  superior.  Southampton  knew  that  he  dared  not 
make  a  noise  in  the  Presence  Chamber,  but  when  fortune  shewed 
him  his  adversary  in  the  garden,  he  could  not  forbear  striking  him. 
Willoughby  not  only  retaliated,  but  told  the  tale,  and  the  Queen 
thanked  him.  It  must  have  added  a  new  bitterness  to  the  Ea 
1  Sidney  Papers,  u.  82.  *  Ibid.  83. 

$-2 


n6     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

feeling  to  be  made  ridiculous  at  Court,  while  his  heart  was  sore  over 
other  things,  for  it  is  evident  he  was  punished  by  being  banished  the 
Presence  for  some  days.  On  the  28th  January  we  hear,  "  My  Lord 
Southampton  is  now  at  court,  who  for  a  while  by  her  Majesties  com- 
mand, did  absent  himself  from  it1 ";  and  on  the  ist  February,  "My 
Lord  of  Southampton  is  much  troubled  at  her  Majesties  straungest 
usage  of  him.  Somebody  hath  played  unfriendly  parts  with  him. 
Mr  Secretary  hath  procured  him  licence  to  travell.  His  faire  mistress 
doth  wash  her  fairest  face  with  too  many  teares.  I  pray  god  his  going 
away  bring  her  to  no  such  infirmity,  which  is,  as  yt  were,  hereditary 
to  her  name."2  The  meaning  of  the  last  four  words  remains  obscure. 

The  information  of  2nd  February  was:  "yt  is  secretly  said  that 
my  Lord  of  Southampton  shall  be  married  to  his  faire  mistress "; 
but  apparently,  as  he  had  done  in  his  younger  days,  "he  asked  for  a 
little  respite."3 

On  the  6th  of  February  he  had  final  permission  and  "  Licence 
to  the  Earl  of  Southampton  to  travel  beyond  seas,  and  remain  two 
years,  with  ten  servants,  six  horses  and  ^200  in  money."4 

On  the  same  day,  a  certain  Humphrey  Basse  instructed  William 
Wollaston,  merchant  of  Rouen,  that  he  had  "agreed  with  Edward 
Gage,  and  William  Chamberlain  servants  [?]  of  the  Earl  of  South- 
ampton to  furnish  him  with  1000  crowns  'soil'  (current  money) 
which  makes  ^300  sterling,  at  Southampton's  pleasure."5 

Sir  Robert  Cecil,  Lord  Brooke,  and  their  train  started  on  their, 
journey  on  the  loth  of  February,  and  with  them  the  Earl  of  South- 
ampton6. Whyte  wrote  to  Sidney  on  Sunday  the  I2th  February: 
"  My  Lord  of  Southampton  is  gone  and  hath  left  behind  him  a  very 
desolate  gentlewoman,  that  hath  almost  wept  out  her  fairest  eyes. 
He  was  at  Essex  House  with  1000  (Essex)  and  there  had  much 
private  talk  with  him  in  the  court  below."  7 

When  the  Ambassador's  party  reached  Paris,  the  King  was  at 
Angers,  and  thither  they  had  to  follow  him8.  They  took  thirty  days 
in  travelling  from  Dieppe  to  Angers  in  this  way.  The  places  were 
300  miles  apart,  but  they  only  spent  sixteen  days  in  travelling,  the 

1  Sidney  Papers,  u.  86.  *  Ibid.  87.  »  Ibid.  88. 

4  D.S.S.P.  CCLXVI.  docquet.  *  Salisb.  Papers,  vm.  37. 

'  Birch's  Memoirs,  vol.  u,  and  Camden's  Memorabilia. 

1  Sidney  Papers,  II.  90. 

••  Salisb.  Papers,  vm.  91.   Birch's  Negotiations,  n.  323. 


ix]  THE  TWO  COUNTESSES  117 

rest  being  accounted  for  byan  accident,  and  delayed  dispatches.  They 
were  received  with  great  honour  when  they  reached  the  Court  Cecil 
specially  presented  to  the  King  the  Earl  of  Southampton  "who  had 
come  with  deliberation  to  serve  him,  whereupon  the  King  welcomed 
and  embraced  the  Earl." 

After  the  conference  Cecil  asked  the  Queen  to  send  ships  for 
them  to  Caen,  which  would  save  200  miles  of  riding,  by  which 
means  he  got  home  again  by  the  2gth  of  April,  "after  a  vile  journey 
that  route."1  Of  course,  Southampton  did  not  go  the  whole  way 
home  with  them.  He  made  straight  for  Paris. 

On  the  20th  May  Chamberlain  told  Carleton  that  "Sir  William 
Harvey  is  said  to  have  married  the  Countess  of  Southampton."2 

Southampton  wrote  to  Essex  in  June,  thanking  the  Earl  for 
accepting  a  present  from  him.  "  I  would  willingly  give  you  an  account 
of  my  meanings,  but  I  have  hitherto  been  altogether  uncertain  how 
to  dispose  of  myself,  nor  do  I  yet  know  well  how  to  resolve,  nor 
can  I  be  better  assured  what  will  be  determined  in  England  con- 
cerning this  peace  now  spoken  of."3  He  knew  that  things  were 
done  slowly  in  England,  and  tried  to  be  patient  (the  letter  is  en- 
dorsed June  1598,  in  France). 

Then  something  happened,  sweet  and  bitter  at  once,  which 
tended  further  to  disarrange  his  plans.  The  two  Danvers  for  whom 
he  had  risked  so  much  and  pleaded  so  much,  unable  to  return  to 
England,  had  agreed  to  go  with  him  to  travel  in  Italy.  Then,  un- 
expectedly the  Queen  yielded  to  the  entreaties  of  their  friends  and 
the  representations  of  Cecil,  and  forgave  them.  As  she  had  con- 
fiscated their  property,  they  had  to  give  up  the  Italian  tour,  for 
which  the  arrangements  were  nearly  completed.  It  was  absolutely 
necessary  they  should  both  go  home  and  express  their  gratitude  for 
their  pardon  in  person,  or  there  would  be  little  hope  of  the  Queen's 
grace  being  extended  to  restitution.  Sir  Henry,  being  the  younger, 
and  less  burdened  with  the  responsibilities  of  property,  hoped  he 
might  be  able  to  return  to  Paris  shortly  and  redeem  his  promise 
of  going  to  Italy  with  the  friend  to  whom  he  owed  so  much.  On 
the  30th  June  was  dated  "The  Pardon  to  Sir  Henry  and  Sir  Charles 
Danvers,  for  killing  Henry  Long."4  Sir  Charles5,  on  the  i  ith  July, 

1  D.S.S.P.  CCLXVII.  5.         »  Ibid.  23.          *  Salisb.  Papers,  vnr.  241. 
4  D.S.S.P.  CCLXVII.  docquet  3oth  June.      *  Ibid.  CCLXVIII.  2. 


u8     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

thanked  Cecil  for  his  "comfortable  news,"  and  "for  having  wrought 
so  mightily  with  the  Queen  for  him."  He  will  take  leave  of  the 
King  tomorrow,  and  go  to  the  seaside  to  wait  for  instructions.  "  I 
have  delivered  your  commendations  to  the  Earl  of  Southampton." 

Sir  Thomas  Edmondes  the  English  agent  in  Paris,  sent  on  to 
Sir  Robert  Sidney  on  July  15th1  "certain  songs  which  were 
delivered  me  by  my  Lord  Southampton  to  convey  to  your  Lordship 
from  Cave/as." 

Southampton  had  an  application  from  a  gentleman  called  George 
Cranmer,  who  would  like  to  enter  his  service  or  that  of  Sir  Henry 
Danvers,  from  Orleans  on  23rd  July2. 

But  alas  for  all  plans.  More  misfortune  followed  Southampton 
through  the  illness  of  the  Danvers3.  Carleton,  then  in  London, 
wrote  to  Chamberlain  on  the  yth  of  August,  "The  two  Knights 
Danvers  are  stayed  at  Paris  by  sickness.  Their  pardon  is  conditional 
on  their  contenting  Sir  Walter  Long  by  paying  him  £1500;  £1200 
is  paid,  the  rest  they  think  too  late  in  receipt."  So,  even  if  they 
could  manage  to  pull  through  their  own  difficulties,  neither  of  them 
would  be  in  a  position  to  help  their  friend. 

It  must  have  been  during  Southampton's  absence,  on  8th  March, 
1 598,  that  a  suit  in  Chancery  was  brought  forward  in  his  name 
against  Richard  Cobbe,  who  resided  at  Swarrton,  a  dependency  of 
the  manor  of  Micheldever,  and  owed  him  £3  a  year  as  quit-rent.  It 
is  only  interesting  because  it  marshals  all  his  ancestors  in  the  field, 
in  relation  to  the  Abbot  of  Hyde.  Their  oldest  witness  was  80  years 
old.  He  knew  that  the  manor  of  Micheldever  was  part  of  the  Abbey 
of  Hyde,  and  that  the  Abbot  sold  the  stock.  He  had  been  on  the 
Homage  list,  and  with  the  rest  of  the  jury  had  presented  Richard 
Cobbe  for  default  of  suit  of  court.  He  had  heard  the  officers  say  that 
Richard  Cobbe  and  Thomas,  his  father,  had  to  pay  £3  rent.  Another 
old  witness  said  he  had  not  known  the  Abbot,  but  he  knew  that 
Micheldever  was  part  of  the  Abbey  lands.  He  had  also  heard  that  the 
late  Anthony,  Viscount  Montague,  owned  lands  for  40  years  which 
were  held  of  the  manor  of  Micheldever,  and  that  he  had  to  pay  £3, 
and  owed  suit  of  court  for  them.  Jane  late  Countess  of  Southampton, 
had  told  him  in  her  house  at  Titchfield  that  Thomas  Cobbe,  the 

1  Sidney  Papers,  n.  101.  2  Salisb.  Papers,  vm.  270. 

3  D.S.S.P.  CCLXVIII.  18. 


EC]  THE  TWO  COUNTESSES  119 

father,  had  withheld  the  rent  of  £3  and  that  she  meant  to  sue  him. 
He  had  been  a  Homager  of  Micheldever,  and  had  presented 
Richard  and  Thomas  Cobbe  for  default  of  suit  of  court.  He  did 
not  know  if  they  paid  rent.  The  next  aged  witness  said  that  he  had 
always  heard  it  credibly  reported  that  Anthony,  late  Viscount  Mon- 
tague, held  the  lands  of  Micheldever  and  had  passed  them  to  Cobbe, 
and  that  he  had  paid  the  rent  to  Jane,  Countess  of  Southampton. 
The  lands  came  from  Sir  William  Fitzwilliam  to  Viscount  Mon- 
tague, and  from  him  to  the  Cobbes.  Thomas  Cobbe  did  eventually 
pay  to  Jane,  Countess  of  Southampton,  £30  for  arrears.  The  next 
witness  said  that  Thomas  Cobbe  himself  told  him  he  had  paid.  The 
next  witness  was  sure  that  Fitzwilliam's  lands  became  Montague's; 
that  Montague  had  conveyed  the  manor  to  Thomas  Cobbe;  that 
he  had  seen  the  collector's  books  with  the  entry  that  Thomas  Cobbe 
owed  ^3  rent,  and  the  said  Thomas  did  not  deny  it,  but  paid  it 
eventually  to  the  officers  of  Henry,  the  late  Earl  of  Southampton. 
He  shewed  the  book  of  collections,  where  it  is  shewn  further  that  a 
certain  quit-rent  of  %d.  a  year  should  be  paid  for  a  certain  tenement 
which  Thomas  Cobbe  purchased  of  Mr  Harris  of  Broughton  and 
Jane,  the  said  Countess,  for  Peter  his  son.  The  next  witness  was 
servant  of  Edmond  Clark,  thirty  years  ago,  for  16  years,  and  often 
heard  that  rent  had  to  be  paid  to  Jane,  Countess  of  Southampton, 
and  of  the  composition  by  Thomas  Cobbe.  The  chief  query  for  both 
sides  was  whether  Sir  William  Fitzwilliam  was  lord  of  the  manor 
or  grange  of  Swarrton,  and  if  he  held  it  of  the  said  Abbot  as  part  of 
the  manor  of  Micheldever  (one  of  the  possessions  of  the  Abbey). 
Was  this  before  or  after  the  Dissolution  ?  The  defendant's  witnesses 
only  knew  that  Fitzwilliam's  lands  were  the  same  as  Montague's, 
but  they  did  not  know  if  Montague  ever  paid  rent  for  Swarrton  to 
the  lord  of  Micheldever.  The  depositions  were  taken  on  April  6th, 
1598.  The  first  "Decree  and  order"1  after  the  deposition  only 
appoints  another  commission  to  hear  the  depositions  and  to  give  14 
days  notice  to  either  side.  Nothing  further  is  recorded,  but  South- 
ampton's case  is  so  strong  that  it  evidently  must  have  led  to  a 
composition  by  Richard,  such  as  his  father  Thomas  had  made  with 
Countess  Jane.  Now,  it  may  be  noted  that  this  suit  is  brought  by 

1  D.  and  O.,  A.B.  732,  and  B.B.  710.  It  is  a  curious  coincidence  that  in 
the  same  volume  is  the  Shakespeare's  Case  against  Lambert  (B.B.  886). 


120     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

Southampton  in  relation  to  the  title  of  his  cousin  Anthony,  Viscount 
Montague,  who  inherited  from  his  great-grandfather  lands  be- 
queathed him  by  his  step-brother  Sir  William  Fitzwilliam,  who 
became  Earl  of  Southampton,  though  this  is  never  once  mentioned 
in  the  course  of  the  proceedings.  (Another  case  was  tried  over  the 
same  property  in  Car.  I,  17,  24th  July,  by  Thomas,  fourth  Earl.) 

Southampton's  hopes  of  service  in  France  were  frustrated  by  the 
results  of  the  treaty  of  Verviers,  and  his  alternative  plan  was  to  go 
to  Italy  with  the  two  Danvers.  While  waiting  for  them,  he  was 
one  of  those  who  witnessed  the  quarrel  between  Sir  Charles  Blount 
and  Sir  Melgar  Leven1,  which  led  to  a  duel,  forbidden  alike  by  the 
French  King  and  the  Earl  of  Essex.  Southampton  wrote  to  Essex 
in  June  thanking  him  for  accepting  a  present2. 

"On  Aug.  4th  being  Friday  died  the  Lord  Burghley,  the  Lord 
Treasurer,  at  Cecil  House  in  the  Strand,"  said  his  son  Robert  in 
his  Diary.  His  funeral  was  on  the  2gth  of  the  month.  R.  Lytton 
wrote  to  Carleton  the  same  day  "  that  there  were  many  great  men 
present,  my  Lord  of  Essex,  to  my  judgment,  did  more  than  cere- 
moniously shew  his  sorrow."3 

Chamberlain  the  next  day  expanded  the  news:  "There  were 
about  500  mourners,  among  the  rest  the  Earl  of  Essex,  who  carried 
the  heaviest  countenance  of  all."4  He  incidentally  added  that  the 
Earl  of  Essex,  not  being  received  at  Court,  retired  to  Wanstead. 
Many  of  his  friends  implored  him  to  return  to  Court,  among  them 
Egerton,  who  lovingly  advised  him  "  You  leave  your  friends  open 
to  contempt,  and  encourage  foreign  enemies  by  the  news  that  her 
Majesty  and  the  realm  are  maimed  of  so  worthy  a  member,  who 
has  so  often  daunted  them,  August  I598."5  Essex  replied6, 
"I  would  sooner  make  you  a  judge  than  another,  but  I  must 
appeal  from  earthly  judgment  when  the  highest  has  imposed 
the  heaviest  punishment  without  trial.  I  am  not  unreasonably 
discontent,  but  the  passionate  indignation  of  a  Prince  is  an  un- 
seasonable tempest,  when  a  harvest  for  painful  labours  is  expected, 
and  the  smart  must  be  cured,  or  the  senseless  part  cut  off.  The 
Queen  is  obdurate  and  I  cannot  be  senseless.  I  see  an  end  of  my 

1  Salisb.  Papers,  vin.  228.  *  Ibid.  241. 

8  D.S.S.R  CCLXVIII.  31.  *  Ibid.  33. 

5  Ibid.  43.  4  Ibid.  45  (an  abstract  from). 


ix]  THE  TWO  COUNTESSES  121 

fortune,  and  have  set  an  end  to  my  desire.  When  present,  my 
enemies  were  absolute,  and  I  could  do  nothing  for  my  friends.  I  am 
released  from  duty  to  my  country  by  my  dismissal.  I  will  always 
owe  duty  to  her  Majesty  as  an  Earl  Marshal  of  England,  and  I 

have  served  her  as  a  clerk,  but  cannot  do  so  as  a  slave I  cannot 

yield  truth  to  be  falsehood.  Princes  may  err,  and  subjects  receive 
wrong,  as  I  have  done,  but  I  will  shew  constancy  in  suffering." 

Southampton  wrote  to  Sir  Robert  Cecil  on  August  2Oth,  "Though 
I  have  very  little  matter  of  business  to  write  of,  yet  can  I  not  see 
this  bearer  depart  without  a  letter  unto  you,  though  it  be  but  only 
to  put  you  in  mind  of  one,  whom  you  have  given  cause  in  the  best 
kind  ever  to  remember  you,  and  to  acknowledge  the  debt  in  which 
by  your  many  favours  I  am  bound  unto  you.  For  the  return  of 
him  and  his  brother  I  cannot  but  rejoice  with  you,  though  in  respect 
of  myself,  I  find  more  reason  to  mourn  the  loss  of  so  pleasing 
companions,  but  such  is  my  affection  to  them,  as  I  do  prefer  their 
good  before  the  satisfaction  of  myself.  If  it  had  not  been  for  their 
departure,  I  should  ere  this  time  have  written  unto  you  out  of 
Italy,  but  now  by  means  of  that  my  journey  is  stayed  until  I  hear 
out  of  England,  for  if,  after  the  dispatch  of  his  business  there,  I  may 
not  have  the  company  of  the  younger,  my  voyage  will  be  infinitely 
unpleasing  unto  me,  being  to  pass  into  a  country  of  which  I  am 
utterly  ignorant,  without  any  companion.  I  cannot  here  imagine 
what  may  hinder  him,  but  if  any  let  should  happen,  I  beseech  you 
if  you  can,  remove  it,  for  I  protest  it  will  be  an  exceeding  maim 
unto  me,  if  I  miss  him."1 

The  friend  is  evidently  Sir  Henry  Danvers,  inasmuch  as  he  seems 
to  have  been  "the  bearer"  referred  to.  For  Sir  Henry  wrote  to  Sir 
Robert  Cecil  in  London  that  month,  saying,  "  I  have  hitherto  kept 
this  letter  of  my  Lord  of  Southampton's2,  hoping  an  opportunity  to 
deliver  it  myself,  but  your  Honor's  going  to  the  Court,  and  uncertain 
return  hither  hath  made  me  rather  choose  to  present  both  it  and 
my  most  humble  duty  and  thanks  for  your  Honor's  so  high  a  favour, 
the  value  whereof  is  sufficiently  shewn  by  what  we  have  endured, 
and  the  many  fruitless  intercessions  we  have  made;  which  benefit 
having  solely  received  from  your  Honour,  I  may  freely  profess  thaf 
what  I  am,  or  by  the  continuance  of  your  favour  may  be,  must  of 
1  Salisb.  Papers,  VIH.  313.  *  Ibid.  323. 


122     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

due  only  remain  at  your  Lordship's  devotion.  So  craving  your 
Lordship's  resolution  in  my  Lord  of  Southampton's  request,  where- 
upon I  would  be  glad  to  govern  my  sooner  or  later  return  to  this 
town,  I  most  humbly  take  my  leave." 

Something  more  serious  during  that  month  startled  the  Earl  of 
Southampton  and  awakened  him  to  a  sudden  sense  of  new  responsi- 
bilities. It  probably  came  in  the  first  place  through  some  letter 
from  Elizabeth  Vernon  herself,  which  has  not  been  preserved. 
For  it  is  evident  that  he  had  learned,  before  the  news  grew  into 
gossip,  that  the  consequences  of  their  past  intimacy  had  fallen 
heavily  upon  her,  and  that  she  had  been  forced  to  leave  Court 
and  go  to  Essex  House,  under  pretext  of  an  ordinary  illness. 
It  is  probable  that  they  had  been  betrothed  with  the  knowledge 
and  approval  of  the  Earl  of  Essex,  who  had  apparently  been  acting 
as  the  lady's  guardian  at  Court,  since  there  was  never  the  slightest 
shadow  of  reproach  from  Essex  or  ruffling  of  their  friendship  by 
the  incident.  But,  young  as  he  was,  Southampton  knew  that, 
though  a  betrothal  might  make  the  condition  of  his  beloved  perfectly 
respectable  in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  there  would  be  difficulties 
about  dower,  and  title,  and  Court  precedence  for  her,  and  loss  of 
the  inheritance  to  the  coming  heir  (if  such  there  were),  without  the 
sanction  of  the  religious  service  of  marriage,  a  sacrament  to  a 
Catholic.  This  difficulty  was  not  to  be  solved  by  delay  and  patience, 
but  by  courage  and  promptness.  So  he  rushed  off  to  London — as 
he  thought,  secretly — to  do  what  he  could  to  mitigate  the  conse- 
quences of  his  imprudence.  He  had  leave  of  absence  for  two  years, 
and  he  contemplated  no  trouble  in  going  or  coming.  He  knew  that 
the  Queen  would  be  wrathful  at  his  daring  to  marry  one  of  her 
maids  of  honour  without  receiving  her  royal  permission;  he 
remembered  what  a  noise  was  made  when  the  Lady  Bridget  Man-r 
ners  had  secretly  married  Mr  Tyrwhitt  without  leave  of  anybody. 
But  he  probably  reckoned  that  the  royal  temper  would  smooth 
down  after  a  few  formalities  of  appearance,  confinement,  confession, 
and  petition.  He  also  trusted  probably  too  much  to  the  influence  of 
Essex,  as  well  as  to  the  power  of  time,  in  minimising  his  fault. 
Chamberlain  wrote  to  Carleton  on  the  3Oth  August,  1598:  "Sir 
Charles  and  Sir  Henry  Danvers  have  come.  Mrs  Vernon  is  from 
Court,  and  lies  at  Essex  House;  some  say  she  hath  taken  a  venew 


DC]  THE  TWO  COUNTESSES  123 

under  the  girdle  and  swells  upon  it,  yet  she  complains  not  of  foule 
playbut  says  the  Erie  of  Southampton  will  justi  fie  it,and  it  is  bruited, 
underhand,  that  he  was  latelie  here  fowre  days  in  great  secret,  of 
purpos  to  marry  her,  and  effected  it  accordingly."1  What  Chamber- 
lain had  heard  "underhand,"  Cecil  and  the  Queen  had  already 
heard  from  some  secret  "informers."  The  Royal  Secretary  wrote2 
to  the  Earl  of  Southampton  on  the  3rd  of  September,  1 598,  "  I  am 
grieved  to  use  the  style  of  a  councillor  to  you  to  whom  I  have  evere 
rather  wished  to  be  the  messenger  of  honour  and  favour,  by  laying 
her  Majesty's  command  upon  you;  but  I  must  now  put  this  gall 
into  my  ink,  that  she  knows  that  you  came  over  very  lately,  and 
returned  very  contemptuously;  that  you  have  also  married  one  of 
her  maids  of  honour,  without  her  privity,  for  which,  with  other 
circumstances  informed  against  you,  I  find  her  grievously  offended, 
and  she  commands  me  to  charge  you  expressly  (all  excuses  set 
apart)  to  repair  hither  to  London,  and  advertise  your  arrival, 
without  coming  to  the  Court,  until  her  pleasure  be  known.  Sept. 
3rd  1 598.  From  the  Court  at  Greenwich." 

At  the  same  time,  or  at  all  events  by  the  same  post,  came  over 
two  important  missives,  one  from  Sir  Robert  Cecil  to  Mr  Edmondes, 
English  agent  at  the  French  Court,  enclosing  another  from  the 
Queen  herself  to  her  "trustie  and  well-beloued  Thomas  Edmondes 
Esq.  our  Agent  with  the  French  King." 

Sir  Robert  Cecil  to  Sir  Thomas  Edmondes,  English  agent  at  the 
French  Court,  on  the  3rd  of  September  sent  commands: 

Mr  Edmondes,  the  haste  I  have  to  send  away  this  messenger  forbydds  mee 
to  spend  longer  tyme  than  I  must  of  necessitie;  But  so  it  is,  that  my  Lord 
of  Southampton's  coming  hither  is  known  and  what  he  hath  done  for  which 
the  Queen  is  much  offended.  You  know  the  nature  of  his  offence,  and  what 
it  is  lyke  to  prove,  which  makes  me  wishe  that  his  Lordship  should  take  heed 
[not]  to  make  it  worse  with  any  contempt,  being  the  first  day  it  is  knowne, 
a  matter  that  cannot  danger  his  fortune  further  then  the  cloude  of  her 
Majesties'  favour,  who  punisheth  the  forme  rather  than  the  substance.  By 
this  letter  you  shall  perceave  what  you  have  to  doe,  and  for  any  further 
matter  from  hence,  there  is  no  accident  worth  the  wryting,  and  therefore 
I  do  here  conclude  that  I  remayne  your  loving  friend  assuredly  Ro.  Cecil. 
Greenwich  3rd  September3. 

Enclosed  in  this  was  the  following: 

1  D.S.S.P.  CCLXVIII.  33.     2  Ibid.  47.     »  Stowe  MSS.  167,  7,  ff.  38-4°. 


124     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

Elizabeth  R. 

Trustie  and  well  beloved  we  greet  you  well. 

Where  we  have  understoode  that  the  Earle  of  Southampton  hath  been  in 
England  privily,  and  is  passed  over  again  without  our  knowledge  contemptu- 
ously: And  where  we  are  informed  that  he  hath  behaved  himselfe  in  other 
things  contrary  to  his  duety  and  to  the  dishonour  of  our  Court,  we  doe 
commande  you  to  charge  him  in  our  name  precisely  and  uppon  his  duety 
to  return  presently  upon  the  sight  hereof:  And  therefore  doe  commande  you 
to  use  all  truthe  and  diligence  to  enquire  him  out,  and  to  make  our  pleasure 
known  to  him,  as  you  will  answer  it  at  your  perill.  Given  under  our  Signett 
at  our  Manor  of  Greenwich  this  3rd  of  September  in  the  4Oth  year  of  our 
reign1. 

A  servant  of  Essex,  on  September  yth,  wrote  to  Carleton,  "I 
find  by  Edward  Reynolds  my  Lord's  Secretary,  that  yesterday  the 
Queen  was  informed  of  the  new  Lady  of  Southampton  and  her 
adventures,  whereat  her  patience  was  so  much  moved  that  she  came 
not  to  chapel.  She  threats  them  all  to  the  Tower,  not  only  the 
parties,  but  all  that  are  partakers  in  the  practice.  It  is  confessed  that 
the  Earl  was  lately  here,  and  solemnized  the  act  himself,  and  Sir 
Thomas  German  accompanied  him  on  his  return  to  Margate. 
My  Lord  of  Essex  is  sick.  I  now  understand  that  the  Queen  has 
commanded  that  there  shall  be  provided  for  the  new  Countess  the 
sweetest  and  best  appointed  Chamber  in  the  Fleet;  her  Lord  is  by 
command  to  return  upon  his  allegiance  with  all  speed.  These  are 
but  the  beginning  of  evils,  well  may  he  hope  for  that  merry  day 
ev  davara)  which  I  think  he  did  not  find  ev  OaXafio}."2 

Tobie  Matthew  also  had  his  word  to  say  to  Carleton  about  the 
gossip  on  the  I5th  of  the  month,  "Mrs  Vernon  has  spun  a  fair 
thread,  so  fair,  that  I  hold  her  a  better  spinner  than  painter.  Fulke 
Greville  is  made  Vice  Admirall  of  the  navy  ,but  whether  Sir  Henry 

Palmer  or  Sir  William  Harvey  be  chosen  comptroller,  I  know  not 

My  Lord  of  Essex  is  reinstated  in  the  Queen's  favour[?]."3 

The  date  of  two  letters  puzzle  me  not  a  little;  both  are  entered 
as  of  September.  But.  they  seem  more  suitable  to  the  events  of 
August.  Southampton  writes  to  Essex4: 

The  chief  cause  of  my  coming  to  this  town  is  to  speak  with  your  Lordship. 
If  you  will  be  therefore  pleased  to  give  me  assignation  of  some  time  and  place 

1  Stowe  MSS.  B.M.  Thomas  Edmondes'  corr.  calendared  by  Dr  Edward 
Scott.  Athen&um,  1891,  Sept.  26th,  p.  864. 

*  D.SS.P.  CCLXYIII.  50.  3  Ibid.  56.          «  Salisb.  Papers,  vm.  373. 


ixj  THE  TWO  COUNTESSES  125 

where  I  may  attend  you  to  find  you  alone,  so  that  I  may  come  unknown, 
I  will  not  fail  to  perform  your  appointment.  I  beseech  you  to  let  me  know 
your  will  by  this  bearer,  either  by  letter  or  word  of  mouth,  and  bind  me  so 
much  unto  you,  as  not  to  take  notice  of  my  being  here  to  any  creature, 
until  I  have  seen  you. 

Endorsed  "To  the  Earl  of  Essex  on  his  coming  over." 
The  following  seems  a  reply  to  this;  it  is  endorsed  " 


I  do  purpose,  God  willing,  to  be  at  Barn  Elmes  or  London  the  next  week, 
and  do  long  to  see  your  Lordship  in  one  of  these  places.  I  commanded 
Cuffe  to  attend  your  Lordship  upon  your  first  coming,  and  to  acquaint  you 
what  was  the  course  which  I  thought  would  be  of  most  advantage  to  you, 
to  solicit  kissing  of  the  Queen's  hand  by  Mr  Secretary,  and  to  spend  some 
of  your  first  time  in  that  suit.  I  did  also  note  down  of  your  being  so  good  a 
husband  as  to  make  a  journey  down  to  "Leaze."  Your  Lordship  shall  from 
day  to  day  know  by  Cuffe  what  hath  become  of  me,  and  your  messengers 
shall  find  him  out,  if  they  seek  him  at  Barn  Elmes.  I  can  say  no  more  for  the 
present  than  that  I  cannot  be  gladder  of  anything  than  I  am  of  your  Lord- 
ship's health,  happiness  and  return  hither.  Newton  Lodge  25th  September. 

This  might  fit  either  August  or  November  1598,  or  the  follow- 
ing year. 

Now,as  Cecil  noted  that  information  had  only  reached  the  Queen 
on  the  3rd  of  September,  these  letters  of  that  date  are  not  likely  to 
have  been  written  until  the  afternoon,  and,  even  if  the  Queen  were 
in  haste,  the  messenger  would  probably  not  start  until  the  following 
day  at  the  earliest.  There  would  be  some  days  spent  in  travelling,  and 
some  days  possibly  spent  by  Edmondes  in  finding  Southampton;  but  it 
does  seem  that  a  long  time  was  allowed  to  pass  before  the  culprit  made 
up  his  mind  to  let  his  sovereign  know  his  position.  It  was  the  igth 
of  September  before  he  wrote  to  the  Earl  of  Essex2,  "  I  have  by  your 
messenger  sent  a  letter  to  Mr  Secretary  wherein  I  have  discovered 
unto  him  my  marriage  with  your  Lordship's  cousin,  withal  desiring 
him  to  find  the  means  to  acquaint  her  majesty  therwith  in  such 
sort  as  may  least  offend;  and  if  I  may  be  so  happy  to  procure  of 
her  a  favourable  toleration  of  that  which  is  past,  which  obtained, 
I  shall  account  myself  sufficiently  fortunate,  for  I  assure  you,  only 
the  fear  of  having  her  Majesty's  displeasure  is  more  grievous  unto 
me  than  any  torment  I  can  think  of  would  be.  I  trust  therefore 

1  Salisb.  Papers,  vm.  537.  *  Ibid.  353. 


126     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

that  as  my  offence  is  but  small,  so  her  anger  will  not  be  much,  and 
so  consequently  it  will  not  be  very  difficult  to  get  my  pardon.  To 
your  Lordship's  best  direction  I  must  leave  all,  assuring  myself  that 
you  will  be  pleased  to  favour  me  as  one  who  will  be  ever  ready  to 
do  your  servyse,  and  always  remain  your  poor  cousin  to  command. 
I  beseech  you  to  impute  not  the  stay  here  of  your  servant  Mr  Cuff 
as  his  fault,  for  I  have  taken  on  me  the  boldness  to  hold  him  here 
until  my  departure.  Paris  igth  September." 

He  must  have  received  Cecil's  paralysing  communication  the 
very  next  day,  and  have  written  at  once  to  him1.  "  I  have  received 
a  letter  by  the  post  in  your  name,  charging  me,  as  from  her  Majesty, 
to  repair  to  London,  which,  being  unable  to  perform,  I  entreat  you 
to  satisfy  her  that  no  man  lives  who  will  with  more  duty  receive 
her  commands,  though  now  I  am  forced  to  break  this  for  this 
reason :  I  have  stayed  here  for  some  time,  only  to  attend  the  receipt 
of  some  money,  which  was  to  be  made  over  to  me  to  carry  me 
further:  that  received  will,  if  the  Queen  desires  it,  serve  to  bring  me 
back  to  England,  but  till  then,  I  have  no  means  to  stir  from  here. 
This  is  unfeignedly  true."  Even  then,  he  does  not  seem  to  have 
received  the  Queen's  personal  command  through  Edmondes.  But 
this  he  must  have  expected  to  follow,  and  he  was  left  at  his  wit's 
end.  He  had  no  friend  to  help  him  but  the  Earl  of  Essex. 

The  Earl  of  Essex  seems  to  have  been  still  out  of  favour,  and 
was  still  out  of  town.  Tobie  Mathew  wrote  to  Carleton  that 
"  Divers  Almains  were  with  the  Earl  of  Essex.  One  lost  300  crowns 
at  a  new  play  called  *  Every  man's  humour.'  2Oth  September."2 

Southampton  wrote  again  on  the  22nd,  alarmed  and  excited3: 
"Since  I  last  wrote  unto  your  Lordship,  I  have  received  a  letter  by  this 
bearer  from  Mr  Secretary,  which  doth  signify  her  Majesty's  heavy 
displeasure  conceived  against  me,  and  withall  lays  a  charge  upon  me 
in  her  name  to  make  my  present  repair  to  London,  which  news,  as  it 
came  unexpected  so  I  assure  your  Lordship  it  was  nothing  welcome. 
Her  anger  is  most  grievous  unto  me,  but  my  hope  is,  that  time  (the 
nature  of  my  offence  being  rightly  considered)  will  restore  me  to 
her  wonted  good  opinion;  but  my  so  sudden  return  is  a  kind  of 
punishment,  which  I  imagine  her  Majesty's  will  is  not  to  lay  upon 

1  D.S.S.P.  CCLXVIII.  67.  2  Ibid.  61. 

3  Salisb.  Papers,  vm.  357. 


ix]  THE  TWO  COUNTESSES  127 

me:  I  mean,  because  when  I  am  returned  I  protest  unto  your 
Lordship  I  scarce  know  what  course  to  take  to  live,  having  at  my 
departure  let  to  farm  that  poor  estate  I  had  left  for  the  satisfying 
of  my  creditors,  and  payment  of  these  debts  which  I  came  to  owe 
by  following  her  Court,  and  have  reserved  only  such  a  portion  as 
will  maintain  myself,  and  a  very  small  train  in  my  time  of  my 
travel.  I  assure  you  I  speak  not  this  in  hope  by  deferring  to  lessen 
any  part  of  my  punishment,  for  to  satisfy  her  Majesty's  displeasure 
I  will  willingly  submit  myself  to  endure  whatsoever  she  shall  be 
pleased  to  inflict,  but  I  would  only  crave  so  much  favour  as  to 
abide  it  in  such  a  time,  when  the  satisfying  for  my  offence  should 
be  all  the  hurt  I  should  receive.  I  beseech  you  therefore  make  me 
bound  unto  you  by  letting  me  hear  from  you  as  soon  as  may  be, 
whereby  I  may  know  how  to  direct  my  course,  for  according  as 
you  shall  think  fit  I  will  not  fail  to  do;  and  for  the  excuse  I  have 
already  made,  I  assure  myself,  it  is  such  as  no  man  can  take  exception 
unto  Paris,  22nd  September."  (Endorsed  "1598.") 

In  a  day  or  two  he  must  have  received  a  letter  written  to  him  on 
the  2Oth  by  Lord  Cobham  from  his  rooms  in  Blackfriars  (under  the 
same  roof  as  Burbage  had  bought  his  share  for  the  rearing  of  a 
private  theatre).  "In  my  love  unto  you,  I  am  bold  to  advise  you 
that  by  any  means  you  return,  for  I  durst  almost  assure  your 
Lordship  the  Queen's  displeasure  will  not  long  continue.  The 
exception  that  is  now  taken,  is  only  your  contempt  to  marry  one  of 
her  maids  and  not  to  acquaint  her  withal;  but  for  any  dishonour 
committed  by  your  Lordship,  that  conceit  is  clean  taken  away,  so 
that  your  Lordship  hath  no  manner  of  cause  to  doubt  any  disgrace, 
but  for  some  time  absence  from  Court,  which  I  hope  will  not  be 
long  before  it  be  restored  unto  you.  If  you  forbear  to  come,  I  assure 
you  it  would  aggravate  the  Queen,  and  put  conceits  into  her  which 
at  present  she  is  free  of.  Thus  my  Lord,  with  that  love  which  I 
have  ever  professed  to  you,  I  hold  this  the  meetest  course  for  you 
to  take,  yet  leave  it  to  your  better  consideration,  for  I  have  my 
desire  if  you  take  that  determination  which  shall  fall  out  for  the 
best."1  Now,  Lord  Cobham  was  a  person  likely  to  know,  for  he  was 
the  son  of  the  Lord  Chamberlain  (elected  to  succeed  Lord  Hunsdon) 
who  had  died  in  March,  1596-7. 

1  Salisb.  Papers,  vm.  355. 


128     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

Even  after  receiving  this  good  advice,  so  kindly  given,  the  Earl 
of  Southampton  delayed.  He  little  knew  the  evil  consequences 
that  delay  would  be  the  means  of  bringing  to  him,  and,  even  more, 
its  far-reaching  effects  on  the  fortunes  of  his  dearest  friend.  He 
did  not  realise  the  measure  of  the  Queen's  towering  wrath  against 
him,  nor  how  so  many  nursed  that  wrath  to  keep  it  warm. 
Common  gossip  had  not  reached  him  yet1.  She  guessed  by  this 
time  that  Lord  Essex  had  known,  and  had  been  silent  to  her;  this 
galled  her,  and  she  wanted  the  real  culprit  to  vent  her  wrath  upon, 
failing  whom,  she  turned  it  on  one  she  cared  more  for. 

Still  Southampton  delayed,  and  apparently  in  his  distressing  per- 
plexities turned  to  gambling.  Of  course  he  hoped  to  win ;  perhaps 
he  believed  in  his  stars,  or  his  skill,  or  the  power  of  his  will.  He  was 
well  aware  that  a  full  hand  paved  a  pleasant  path,  and  he  wanted 
money,  money,  money,  for  so  many  objects,  and  at  once.  Un- 
fortunately he  lost  it;  and  Cecil  mysteriously  heard  of  this — of  course 
the  Queen  heard  also,andhis  frantic  efforts  to  extricate  himself  were 
naturally  used  to  multiply  the  measure  of  his  faults.  The  news  came 
to  Cecil  in  an  anonymous  letter  (probably  from  one  of  his  many 
spies  abroad),  dated  Sept.  22nd  /Oct.  2nd2.  In  the  third  paragraph 
"Je  vous  supplie  Monsieur,  de  faire  scavoir  ce  mot  a  Monsieur  le 
Comte,  que  votre  Comte  de  Southampton,  qui  est  du  present  dans 
Paris,  s'en  va  de  tout  se  ruenir,  si  on  ne  le  retire  de  la  France  dans 
peu  de  jours.  Car  il  fait  de  partys  de  2,  3,  et  4000  crowns  a  la 
paulone,  mesmes  Marechall  de  Biron  dans  peu  de  jours  lui  gaigna 
3000  crowns,  et  chaqu'un  se  moque  de  lui,  tellement  que  le  Comte 
d'Essex  faira  un  grand  coup  pour  le  dit  Comte,  de  le  retirer  de  bonne 
heure.  Car  autrement,  il  perdra  tout  son  bien  et  reputation  tant 
en  France  qu'en  Engleterre,  dont  j'en  suis  bien  marry  [i.e.  vexed] 
scachant  que  Monseigneur  le  Comte  1'ayme."  This  seems  to  be  a 
genuine  letter,  and  not  a  mere  cipher  hiding  a  double  meaning,  but 
it  would  do  the  Earl  of  Southampton  no  good  at  Court. 

Southampton  had  heard  that  the  Queen  had  blamed  Essex  for 
not  telling  her  of  Elizabeth  Vernon's  marriage,  and  on  the  1 6th 
October  he  wrote3,  "I  am  sorry  your  Lordship  hath  by  my  means 
received  blame,  but  I  hope,  seeing  it  was  not  in  my  power  to  avoid 

1  D.S.S.P.  CCLXVIII.  50.  2  Salisb.  Papers,  vm.  358. 

8  Ibid.  392. 


ix]  THE  TWO  COUNTESSES  129 

it,  you  will  be  pleased  to  pardon  that  which  is  past,  and  believe  that 
hereafter  I  will  ever  be  more  ready  to  serve  you  than  any  way  for 
my  sake  to  procure  your  Lordship  the  hazard  of  a  second  displeasure. 
For  myself  I  assure  your  Lordship  the  thought  of  her  Majesty's 
indignation  conceived  against  me,  is  much  more  grievous  than  the 
fear  of  what  soever  punishment  can  be  laid  upon  me,  which,  since 
she  is  unwilling  to  defer,  I  am  resolved  (as  soon  as  I  can  with 
conveniency  leave  the  country)  to  present  myself  to  endure  what- 
soever she  shall  be  pleased  to  inflict,  hoping  that  when  I  have  once 
abid  penance  sufficient  for  the  offence  committed,  I  shall  be  restored 
to  her  former  good  opinion,  and  have  liberty  to  take  what  course 
shall  be  fittest  for  me,  which  is  the  only  suit  I  intend  to  make,  and 
that  granted  I  shall  account  myself  enough  favoured.  If  the  winds 
hinder  me  not,  I  will  land  in  some  such  part  of  England  as 
I  will  not  fail  to  give  your  Lordship  first  notice  of  my  arrival, 
and  so  be  ready,  before  my  coming  to  London  to  receive  what 
direction  you  shall  send  me  to  Rouen,  i6th  October  1598." 
Endorsed  "Earl  of  Southampton  6th  October  1598." 

So  the  Earl  spent  his  25th  birthday  in  these  anxieties. 

In  the  list  of  the  Queen's  horses  for  October1  there  are  mentioned 
"Grey  Poole,  Black  Wilford  for  her  Majesty's  saddle,  a  bay  that 
my  young  Lady  of  Southampton  rode.  Rone  Howard,  for  Mrs 
Elizabeth  Russell,  Grey  Fytton  for  Mrs  Fytton." 

We  find  the  approximate  date  of  Southampton's  departure  from 
Paris  by  a  letter  from  Sir  Thomas  Edmondes  to  Sir  Robert  Sidney 
on  2nd  November:  "My  Lord  of  Southampton,  that  now  goeth 
over,  can  inform  your  Lordship  at  large,  of  the  state  of  all  things 
here,  to  whose  better  report  I  will  therefore  referre  your  Lordship."2 
This  does  not  suggest  that  Edmondes  thought  Southampton  in  any 
great  danger,  nor  does  it  seem  that  he  had  in  any  way  kept  himself 
secluded  from  the  affairs  of  the  time  by  the  royal  threat  which 
clouded  his  career.  There  must  be  again  a  confusion  of  the  two 
calendars;  for  Essex  writes  to  his  friend  on  the  4th  November  as 
if  he  were  already  home  and  in  trouble. 

Another  person  who  had  been  fretting  and  fuming  about  the 

Earl's  actions  was  his  mother.   There  are  certain  unexplained 

references  to  her  money  matters  that  year,  in  which  she  may 

1  Salisb.  Papers,  vm.  417.  *  Sidney  Papers,  II.  104. 

s.  s.  9 


130     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

have  needed  her  son's  help.  She  had  doubtless  written  often  to 
him,  but  nothing  has  been  preserved  of  their  correspondence.  She 
had  certainly  heard  the  gossip.  She  justly  felt  herself  ill-used  in 
being  kept  in  the  dark  as  to  his  intentions.  Since  her  marriage  with 
Sir  Thomas  Heneage,  her  son  had  been  more  free  from  paying  her 
the  ordinary  duties  of  unmarried  sons  to  widowed  mothers.  He  had 
evidently  also  come  under  the  influence  of  Thomas  Dymock,  who 
had  been  the  cause  of  so  much  of  her  unhappiness  with  her  first 
husband.  Something  had  made  a  breach  between  the  Countess  and 
her  son — possibly  his  secret  love-making  absorbed  his  free  time — and 
he  neglected  to  visit  his  mother.  At  any  rate  she  had  felt  very  much 
hurt — so  much  so,  that  she  could  not  offer  her  son  her  confidence  as 
to  her  own  affairs.  The  Earl  of  Essex,  peace-loving  and  peace- 
making as  he  was,  had  written  her  a  kind,  yet  monitory,  letter,  and 
wisely  asked  her  favour  to  help  his  young  cousin.  This  letter  has  not 
been  preserved,  but  the  Countess  (now  Dowager)  received  it  pleasantly 
and  answered  it  fairly;  her  reply  runs:  "Your  letter  shews  truly 
yourself  ever  noble  and  ready  to  perform  best  offices  to  all,  if  to 
your  kinswoman  with  more  care  is  agreeable  with  the  rest  and 
honours  yourself  as  most  becomes.  A  few  days  I  perceive  will  bring 
your  Lordship  to  the  town,  when  it  will  please  you  to  look  into  the 
Savoy,  then  shall  I  willingly  hear  your  Lordship,  and  will  not  doubt 
to  give  you  such  satisfaction  as  in  your  judgment  you  will  allow, 
assuring  your  Lordship  in  the  mean,  your  kinswoman  shall  find 
your  favour  in  me,  and  more  should  if  she  were  not  his  that  never 
was  kind  to  me,  but  in  this  matter  and  manner  unnatural,  undutiful, 
God  grant,  not  unfaithful;  to  your  Lordship's  heart  I  leave  it  that 
is  a  parent,  but  I  hope  shall  never  find  that  I  have  felt,  for  ever  and 
ever.... Savoy  6th October."1  Endorsed "CountesseSowth.  Senior." 
The  Earl  of  Essex  had  his  hands  full,  through  the  matrimonial 
troubles  of  the  Southamptons.  The  young  Earl  had  heard  the  gossip 
about  his  mother's  marriage,  and  it  had  annoyed  him,  not  only 
because  she  had  arranged  it  without  consulting  him,  or  merely 
because  of  the  general  objection  young  men  have  to  stepfathers, 
but  partly  because  Sir  William  Harvey  was  not  in  such  a  good  social 
position  as  his  mother  and  he  were,  and  partly,  also,  because  it 
might  lead  to  financial  rearrangements  that  would  be  embarrassing 
1  Salisb.  Papers,  viu>  379. 


DC]  THE  TWO  COUNTESSES  131 

to  him  in  the  present  state  of  his  affairs.  It  was  necessary  for  him 
to  settle  some  dower  upon  his  young  wife;  she  had  little  of  her 


own 


The  Earl  of  Essex  wanted  to  find  out  how  he  could  best  have  the 
Countess  prepared  to  meet  her  son  amicably,  when  he  did  return; 
but,  entangled  as  he  was  with  all  the  other  demands  on  his  time 
since  his  return  to  Court,  he  could  not  devote  so  much  of  his  leisure 
as  he  could  have  wished.  When  Southampton  did  start,  he  seems  to 
have  travelled  quickly,  but  he  was  incarcerated  in  the  Fleet  prison 
as  soon  as  he  arrived.  Essex  might  find  that  convenient,  as  being 
a  likely  means  of  softening  his  mother  before  she  saw  him.  Then, 
another  event  was  about  to  take  place.  I  believe  that  an  apparently 
unconnected  and  undated  letter  of  Lady  Penelope  Rich  was  written 
about  this  time  to  Mr  William  Downhall,  one  of  Essex's  servants2. 
"Mr  Downall,  This  bearer  tells  me  my  brother  would  have  me 
come  to  court  in  the  morning  early.  I  am  here  scarce  well,  and  in 
my  night  clothes,  having  nothing  else  here,  but  yet  I  will  come 
and  desire  not  to  be  seen  by  any  but  himself,  wherefore  I  pray  you 
come  for  me  as  early  as  you  think  good,  and  devise  how  I  may  come 
in  very  privately.  If  it  had  not  been  for  importuning  my  brother's 
rest,  I  would  have  come  in  the  night,  to  have  kept  myself  from  any 
other's  eyes.  Good  Mr  Downall  let  me  not  fail  to  see  you  early." 
Now  Essex  was  "at  the  Court"  at  that  period.  He  did  not  stay 
long;  he  was  not  often  there;  and  he  never  resided  there  after  the 
following  spring.  It  is  likely  he  wanted  to  see  his  sister  in  order  to 
effect  through  her  certain  arrangements  with  both  of  the  Countesses. 

The  young  Countess  had  just  at  that  time  a  daughter,  called 
Penelope  after  her  godmother,  the  Lady  Rich,  who  always  remained 
on  affectionate  terms  with  her  cousin  Elizabeth  Vernon. 

Chamberlain's  news  to  Carleton  of  the  8th  November  were: 
"The  new  Countess  of  Southampton  is  brought  abed  of  a  daughter, 
and  to  mend  her  portion,  the  Erie  her  father  hath  lately  lost  1 800 
crowns  at  Tennis  in  Paris."3  On  the  nth  it  was:  "At  night  the 
Earle  of  Southampton  was  committed  to  the  Fleet."4  On  the  22nd 

1  Among  "the  Disbursements  of  Lord  Essex  1598,"  is  one  entry  "For 
the  Countess  of  Southampton,"  probably  a  substantial  wedding  gift  in 
money,  Salisb.  Papers,  vin.  554. 

2  Cecil  Papers.  »  D.S.S.P.  cCLXVin.  108. 
•  Ibid.  115. 

9—2 


132     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

it  was:  "The  Erie  of  Southampton  is  come  home,  and  for  his 
welcome  is  committed  to  the  Fleet,  but  I  hear  he  is  already  upon 
his  delivery." 

While  he  was  spending  his  energy  at  home  in  favour  of  his  friend, 
the  Earl  of  Essex  was  also  writing  to  him  of  his  dealings  with  his 
mother.  There  is  some  difficulty  about  the  dates,  probably  on 
account  of  the  use  of  the  double  calendar  at  the  time  by  travellers. 
But  the  three  following  letters  seem  to  be  consecutive,  and  they 
explain  themselves.  The  first  contained  either  Lord  Henry  Howard's 
report  of  his  visit  to  the  Dowager  Countess  of  Southampton  given 
below,  or  some  later  one  which  took  a  more  business  form,  which 
has  not  been  preserved. 

The  Earl  of  Essex  to  the  Earl  of  Southampton: 

Your  Lordship  shall  by  the  sight  of  this  enclosed  letter  know  the  success 
of  my  Lord  Harry  [i.e.  Howard]  his  negotiation.  Since  which  time  that  he 
writes  of  I  spake  with  my  Lady  your  Mother  this  afternoon  in  the  privy 
Chamber.  The  apartment  served  not  for  long  conference  or  for  private,  but 
she  doth  profess  to  be  very  kind  to  me,  and  saith  she  told  the  Queen 
enough  to  make  her  see  that  I  and  she  were  kind  one  to  the  other.  I  will  go 
of  purpose  to  her  to  her  house  as  soon  as  the  coming  day  is  past,  and  then 
your  Lordship  shall  have  account  of  all1. 

Apparently  it  was  to  save  some  time  for  himself,  and  also  to 
collect  a  larger  number  of  facts  and  opinions,  that  Lord  Essex  had 
enlisted  the  co-operation  of  Lord  Henry  Howard.  He  knew  that 
the  Countess  of  Southampton  would  be  drawn  on  by  his  courtly 
flattery  to  speak  more  freely  than  she  would  have  done  to  himself. 
The  result  proved  his  j  udgment  wise,  for  Lord  Henry  wrote  to  Essex : 

According  to  your  direction,  most  dear  and  worthy  Lord  I  have  pressed 
my  honourable  friend  to  enlarge  her  meaning  touching  the  mystery  you  were 
desirous  to  understand;  and  found  her  no  less  favourably  attentive  to  my 
motion,  than  warily  discreet  in  her  answer.  Upon  acquainting  her  with  your 
demand  of  me  (not  out  of  curiosity  but  of  love  and  honour)  whether  she 
were  married,  as  many  thought,  or  at  the  very  point  of  marriage,  as  some 
gave  out,  she  did  assure  me  on  her  honour  that  the  knot  of  marriage  was 
yet  to  tie,  although  she  would  be  stinted  at  no  certain  time,  but  ever  reserve 
her  own  liberty  to  dispose  of  herself  when  and  where  it  pleased  her.  She 
told  me  that  you,  in  your  discourse  with  her  had  so  wisely  tempered  your 
affection  to  her  son,  with  care  of  herself,  as  she  would  ever  value  your  advice 
and  love  your  virtue.  I  replied  that  out  of  the  same  kind  regard  of  her 
1  Cecil  Papers,  1597,  Nov.  16,  CLXXIX.  151. 


ix]  THE  TWO  COUNTESSES  133 

honour  and  her  good  success,  you  required  me  to  advise  her  not  to  give  any 
scandal  to  the  world  by  matching  during  her  son's  disgrace;  for  the  greater 
pause  and  leisure  she  took  in  the  last  match,  the  greater  hazard  she  would 
run  in  this  by  marrying  unseasonably.  I  told  her  you  thought  the  world 
would  wonder  what  offence  her  son  could  make  to  purchase  such  a  strange 
contempt  at  a  mother's  hand,  and  either  make  the  ground  thereof  his 
matching  in  your  blood,  which  you  must  take  unkindly,  or  tax  her  own 
judgment  which  you  should  be  sorry  for.  I  told  her  that  you  spake  not  this 
out  of  partiality  to  my  Lord  her  son  in  this  particular  (though  you  made 
his  fortune  yours  and  wished  to  him  in  every  way  as  to  yourself)  but  out  of 
friendly  care  and  tender  sense  of  her  reputation,  which  might  receive  hard 
measure  upon  accomplishment,  because  it  raised  some  strange  bruits  only 
upon  likelihood.  She  answered  again  that  she  found  your  doubt  to  stand 
upon  such  likely  grounds,  as  she  would  warily  provide  for  her  own  honour, 
howsoever  she  had  heretofore  been  dealt  withal.  I  proceeded  further,  giving 
her  Ladyship  to  understand  that  your  Lordship,  fearing  also  lest  unkindness 
might  hereafter  grow  between  her  husband  and  her  son  upon  the  marriage 
accomplished  before  order  were  discreetly  taken  by  her  wisdom  to  prevent 
the  motives  of  debate,  could  wish  that  she  would  tie  their  loves  together 
by  such  strong  and  certain  ligaments  of  confidence  and  kind  affection,  as  no 
cause  might  arise  hereafter  of  dissension,  for  so  she  might  be  free  to  take 
her  choice  at  all  times  without  the  world's  exception,  her  son's  unkindness, 
or  the  wound  of  her  posterity.  My  Lady  told  me  that  her  son  could  take  no 
just  exception  to  the  party  who  had  been  more  plain  with  her  in  his  defence 
during  this  time  of  separation  and  unkindness  than  any  man  alive.  To  your 
Lordship  she  would  ever  give  all  honourable  satisfaction  in  this,  or  any 
matter,  so  far  as  she  might  with  regard  of  her  own  estate  and  liberty,  that 
she  could  possibly  devise,  but  hoped  that  her  son  would  look  for  no  account 
of  her  proceedings  in  the  course  of  marriage  that  made  her  so  great  a  stranger 
to  his  own ;  and  therefore  as  she  would  give  no  cause  of  unkindness  by  her 
fault,  so  she  would  not  imagine  that  unkindness  could  arise  without  a  just 
occasion.  She  said  that  children  by  the  laws  of  God  ought  duty  to  their 
parents,  not  parents  to  those  that  sprang  of  them.  Nature  bound  her  to 
love,  but  nature  and  the  law  of  God  bound  him  both  to  love  and  reverence. 
I  replied  that  your  Lordship  spake  according  to  the  judgment  of  a  man  that 
felt  the  passions  of  men,  fearing  that  if  order  were  not  taken  by  her  provi- 
dence in  time,  somewhat  might  fall  out  to  her  great  grief,  which  would  be 
tried  out  by  other  means  than  the  ten  commandments.  The  draught  of  a 
pen  and  the  settling  of  all  proportions  might  do  that  in  time,  which  hereafter 
could  not  be  provided  for  so  easily.  In  the  end  she  said  that  Sir  William 
Harvey  would  speak  with  her  son  before  the  marriage  (if  she  forbade  it  not) 
but  whether  that  fell  out  or  not,  yet  he  should  speak  with  you  whom  he 
honoured.  She  would  not  only  take  hold  of  sundry  words  cast  out  by  me 
about  the  rating  of  proportions  and  conditions  of  agreement,  etc.  but  ever 


134     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

stood  upon  the  quality  of  the  person,  her  son's  strange  dealing  to  herself 
and  her  own  liberty.  She  takes  in  so  good  part  all  I  can  affirm,  both  of  your 
wise  foresight  of  future  harm  and  of  your  care  to  cut  off  causes  that  may 
breed  them  for  want  of  safe  provision  in  due  time,  together  with  your  noble 
dealing  with  herself,  as  I  do  constantly  believe  that  either  you  or  no  subject 
in  the  land  shall  do  good  with  her,  and  bring  matters  to  the  pass  that  may 
satisfy.  Your  Lordship  hath  so  absolute  a  state  in  all  my  vows  and  services, 
and  doth  so  fully  comprehend  all  faculties  and  forces  of  my  mind  and  body 
within  the  precinct  of  -that  love  I  owe  to  you  alone  more  than  to  all  the 
world  tanquam  in  genere  generalissimo  as  I  cannot  show  my  own  particular 
desire  to  do  service  to  this  honourable  Lord  in  ind.ivid.uo  as  the  case  now 
stands,  because  your  single  word  in  giving  me  this  charge  to  deal  doth  swallow 
all  other  obligations.  But  whensoever  it  shall  please  him  to  make  proof  of 
my  service  when  it  is  not  shadowed  with  your  prerogative  both  he  and  the 
world  shall  judge  in  what  degree  I  honour  him ;  and  a  great  deal  more,  since 
to  his  own  good  parts,  he  hath  added  your  affinity.  In  haste  at  xi  a  clock1. 

The  letter  is  undated;  possibly  it  was  written  in  October, before 
the  Earl  came  home. 

The  Earl  of  Essex  to  the  Earl  of  Southampton : 

I  have  according  to  my  promise  been  this  morning  with  my  Lady  your 
mother.  I  have  told  her  how  sad  I  found  you,  how  the  grounds  of  it  were 
her  unkindness,  the  discomfort  and  discontentment  you  took  in  her  marriage 
and  scorn  that  Sir  William  Harvey  should  think  to  offer  any  scorn  to  you. 
I  told  her  if  it  had  been  mine  own  cause  I  should  have  apprehended  them 
as  much  as  you  did,  and  I  fortified  my  opinion  that  mischief  would  grow  if 
she  did  not  prevent*  it,  by  many  reasons.  I  made  her  see  what  a  certain 
pillar  and  bulk  she  had  to  lean  to  in  having  so  noble  and  worthy  a  son,  what 
a  fire  would  be  kindled  in  her  house,  if  she  did  not  satisfy  you,  and  what 
need  she  was  like  to  have  of  you,  if  she  divide  herself  from  you,  how  dangerous 
and  miserable  a  life  she  was  like  to  lead.  I  do  assure  myself  this  has  taken 
.great  impression.  Sir  William  Harvey  will  be  with  her  tomorrow,  and  to- 
morrow night  I  will  be  with  your  Lordship,  if  I  may  get  hence.  Else  you 
shall  have  by  letter  what  passeth  betwixt  him  and  me. 

I  hope  tomorrow  to  get  a  gaol  delivery,  and  so  I  shall  not  come  so  far  to 
you,  by  the  length  of  Fleet  Street.  4th  November2. 

The  Earl  of  Essex  to  the  Earl  of  Southampton,  Nov.  5th,  1597: 

This  day  about  10  o'clock  Sir  William  Harvey  came  to  me  directed,  as 
he  said,  by  my  Lady  your  mother.  I  told  him  I  had  dealt  freely  with  my 
Lady,  and  so  must  do  with  him,  that  I  thought  both  she  and  he  had  not 

1  Salisb.  Papers,  vm.  371. 

8  Cecil  Papers,  CLXXIX.  153.   Holograph  with  seal. 


n]  THE  TWO  COUNTESSES  135 

carried  themselves  towards  your  Lordship  as  they  should  hare  done.  For 
by  their  match,  if  it  went  forward,  there  was  a  certain  mischief  to  fall  upon 
you,  and  they  added  to  that  unkind  and  unmannerly  carriage. 

He  answered  that  for  his  match,  it  was  not  an  exception  against  him. 
For  if  my  Lady  should  not  marry  him,  she  might  marry  another,  and  that 
were  all  one.  But  I  replied  that  whosoever  it  were,  it  were  a  mischief  to 
you,  and  you  could  not  love  him  that  were  cause  of  it.  To  my  experience 
that  he  never  had  shewed  that  respect  of  you  since  your  coming  over  that 
your  favourable  usage  of  him  heretofore  did  require,  and  that  he  had  spoken 
carelessly,  as  though  he  regarded  not  whether  you  were  angry  or  pleased. 
To  those  I  say  he  answered  laying  the  first  to  your  mother's  charge,  who 
stayed  him  when  he  was  going  to  you,  and  that  he  agreed  with  her.  For  the 
latter,  he  denied  the  words  that  he  spoke  anything  unrespectfully  of  you, 
but  when  he  was  threatened,  he  said  generally  that  they  that  were  angry 
without  cause,  must  be  pleased  without  amends.  After  I  had  told  him  what 
I  thought  of  his  words,  I  bade  him  think  advisedly  now  having  given  you 
advantage  already,  and  being  cause  of  mischief  to  you,  how  he  did  cross  my 
sollicitation  of  my  Lady  giving  of  satisfaction  to  you  before  she  married,  for 
I  did  assure  myself  they  would  both  repent  it.  He  then  began  to  make  my  Ladies 
state  worse  than  it  is  thought  to.be,  and  said  he  would  be  glad  to  know  what 
your  Lordship  did  desire,  but  protested  he  thought  it  was  not  the  way  to 
threaten  or  to  force  my  Lady.  I  told  him  you  did  not  desire  that  which  she 
had  not,  but  that  she  would  assure  you  that  which  she  had.  He  speaks  but 
generally  that  he  will  not  cross  or  hinder  you,  but  to  deal  truly  with  your 
Lordship  I  think  he  will  not  thank  my  Lady  for  it  if  she  do  it. 

I  concluded  plainly  what  he  was  to  trust  unto  from  me,  since  now  your 
Lordship  and  I  were  thus  tied  one  to  the  other  and  that,  when  I  was  a 
friend,  I  went  with  my  friends  as  far  as  any  bond  of  honour  nature  or  reason 
could  tie  a  man.  I  do  give  your  Lordship  this  hasty  account,  and  would 
myself  have  come  with  it,  but  that  I  am  not  thorough  well,  and  I  attend 
better  to  sollicit  your  deliverance.  5th  Nov.1 

Southampton  was  released  ere  long,  and  seems  to  have  made  only 
half-hearted  apologies  to  the  Queen.  My  opinion  is  that  she  took 
a  permanent  distaste  to  him  because  he  could  not,  or  would  not, 
give  her  sufficient  flattery  and  admiration  to  satisfy  her  vanity. 
But  he  was  free,  at  last,  to  cherish  his  wife  and  child  and  serve  his 
friend. 

Affairs  had  been  going  from  bad  to  worse  in  Ireland.  Raleigh, 
Sidney,  Blount  had  all  been  offered  and  had  refused  the  troublesome, 
expensive,  and  thankless  task  of  becoming  Deputy.  The  nation 
1  Cecil  Papers,  CLXXIX.  152.  Holograph  with  seal. 


136     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

looked  towards  Essex,  but  he  was  unwilling  to  leave  Court  so  soon 
after  his  reconciliation.  The  Queen  thought  she  wan  ted  him  to  go,  in 
her  belief  in  his  power  to  succeed;  his  enemies  wished  him  to  go,  being 
certain  they  could  secure  his  failure,  when  once  out  of  the  Queen's 
sight.  The  Queen  granted  all  his  demands  and  conditions,  and  his 
patent  gave  him  power  to  choose  all  his  subordinates,  to  plan  his 
action,  to  have  power  to  grant  peace  or  continue  war.  In  December, 
1598,  Southampton  was  as  happy  as  a  man  hampered  by  poverty 
could  be.  He  was  settled  in  life  with  the  woman  of  his  choice,  and 
he  was  about  to  have  an  active  campaign  under  his  beloved  leader, 
who  on  December  8th  chose  him  provisionally  general  of  the  horse1. 
But,  alas,  in  both  of  these  positions  he  required  money.  Elizabeth 
was  economical.  She  did  not  pay  in  coin  great  noblemen  who 
volunteered  to  serve  her,  and  let  them  win  their  glory  for  themselves. 
A  busy  winter  it  would  be  for  Southampton  as  well  as  for  Essex 
in  preparation  for  the  Irish  campaign. 

Southampton  wrote  to  Essex  in  November  in  favour  of  the 
bearer,  who  desired  to  be  muster-master  in  Essex2. 

Taking  the  advice  of  Essex,  the  dowager  Countess  of  South- 
ampton had  postponed  her  marriage  with  Sir  William  Harvey 
until  her  son's  affairs  ran  more  smoothly,  and  probably  she  also 
submitted  to  his  judgment  in  the  matter  of  her  marriage  settlements. 

Sir  Thomas  Arundel  wrote  to  Cecil  from  Anstey  on  the  last  day 
of  December,  1598,  that  Mr  Donnington,  sometime  servant  of  the 
Earl  of  Southampton,  called  there  on  Sunday  on  his  return  from 
Spain  and  he  refused  to  see  him,  in  case  of  doing  anything  to  dis- 
please her  Majesty3. 

Even  through  all  the  distractions  of  that  year  the  Earl  of 
Southampton  had  not  given  up  the  pursuit  of  literature. 

Many  new  writers  still  wooed  the  impecunious  patron,  but 
one,  in  gratitude  for  past  favours  without  begging  for  favours  to 
come,  had  dedicated  to  him  (with  two  others)  the  great  work 
of  his  life.  The  Preface  was  certainly  written  and  probably 
published  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  year,  before  the  crowding 
obstructions  hindered  Southampton's  projected  tour  in  Italy. 

John  Florio,  formerly  his  Italian  tutor  and  servant,  this  year 
1598  brought  out  his  World  of  Wordes,  an  Italian  Dictionary, 

1  D.S.S.P.  CCLXIX.  6.         *  ScUisb.  Papers,  vin.  469.         s  Ibid.  528 


ix]  THE  TWO  COUNTESSES  (T  137 

dedicating  it  to  the  Right  Hon.  Patrons  of  Learning  patterns  of 
Virtue,  the  Earl  of  Rutland,  the  Earl  of  Southampton  and  the 
Countess  of  Bedford,  collectively,  as  to  three  sponsors1.  In  prose  he 
writes  "May  it  please  your  Honors  to  join  hand  in  hand."  "I  was 
to  entreate  three  witnesses,  to  the  entrie  of  it  into  Christendom... 
and  so  jointly  to  lend  an  eare  to  a  Poor  man  that  invites  your 
Honours  to  a  christening.  Your  birth,  highly  noble,  more  than 
gentle;  your  place,  above  others  as  in  degree;  so  in  height  of  bountie, 
and  other  virtues,  your  custome,  never  wearie  of  well-doing,  your 
studies,  much  in  al,  most  in  Italian  excellence;  your  conceits  by 
understanding  others  to  work  above  them  in  your  owne;  your 
exercise  to  reade  what  the  world's  best  wits  have  written,  and  to 
speake  as  they  write — In  truth  I  acknowledge  an  entyre  debt,  not 
only  of  my  best  knowledge,  but  of  all,  yea,  of  more  than  I  know 
or  can,  to  your  bounteous  Lordship,  most  noble,  most  vertuous,  and 
Most  Honorable  Earle  of  Southampton,  in  whose  paie  and  patronage 
I  have  lived  some  yeares;  to  whom  I  owe  and  Vowe  the  yeare$ 
I  have  to  live,  But  as  to  me,  and  manie  more,  the  glorious  and 
gracious  sunne-shine  of  your  Honor,  hath  infused  light  and  life;  sc> 
may  my  lesser  borrowed  light,  after  a  principall  respect  to  your 
benigne  aspect,  and  influence,  afford  some  lustre  to  some  others. 
In  loyal  tie  I  may  averre  (my  needle  toucht  and  drawne,  and  held 
by  such  an  adamant)  what  he  in  love  assumed  that  sawe  the  other 
stars,  but  bent  his  course  by  the  Pole  Starre,  and  two  guardes, 
avowing  Aspicit  imam,  One  guideth  me,  though  more  I  see.  Good 
parts  imparted  are  not  empaired;  your  springs  are  first  to  serve  your 
selfe,  yet  may  yield  your  neighbour  sweet  water;  your  taper  is  light 
to  you  first,  and  yet  it  may  light  your  neighbour's  candle.  I  might 
make  doubte,  least  I  or  mine  be  not  now  of  any  further  use  to  your 
selfe-sufficiencie,  being  at  home  so  instructed  for  Italian,  as  teaching 
or  learning  could  supplie,  that  there  seemed  no  neede  of  travel;  and 
none  by  travell  so  accomplished  as  what  wants  perfection?  wherein 
no  lesse  must  be  attributed  to  your  embellisht  graces  (my  most  noble, 
most  gracious,  and  most  gracefull  Earle  of  Rutland)  well  entred  in 
the  toong,  ere  your  Honor  entred  Italic,  there  therein  so  perfected 
as  what  needeth  a  Dictionarie?  Naie,  if  I  offer  service  but  to  them 

1  ist  edition.    Note  how  he  echoes  Shakespeare's  phrases,  especially 
"to  one,  of  one  still  such  and  ever  so"  (Sonnet  v). 


138   THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON   [CH.IX 

that  need  it,  with  what  face  seeke  I  a  place  with  your  excellent 
Ladiship  (my  most  most  honored,  because  best  adorned  Madam), 
who  by  conceited  Industrie,  or  industrious  conceite,  in  Italian  as  in 
French,  in  French  as  in  Spanish,  in  all  as  in  English,  understand. 
What  you  reade,  write  as  you  reade,  and  speake  as  you  write." 
After  a  little  dissertation  he  continues,  "that  as  Henricus  Stephanus 
dedicated  his  Treasure  of  the  Greeke  toong  unto  Maximilian  the 
Emperor,  to  Charles  the  French  King,  and  to  Elizabeth  our  dread 
Soveraigne,  and  by  their  favours  to  their  Universities;  so  may  I 
consecrate  this  lesser  volume  of  little  less  value,  but  of  like  import 
first  to  your  triple  Honors,  then  under  your  protection  to  all  Italian 
English  Students. .  .kissing  your  thrice-honored  handes  John  Florio." 
An  address  "To  the  Reader"  follows,  as  long  and  much  less 
interesting.  He  chiefly  spends  his  wit  and  satire  in  vituperative 
denunciation  of  one  H.  S.,  who  has  been  unpleasant  to  him  in 
literature.  He  gives  no  clue  to  the  personality  of  H.  S.,  but  suggests 
many  in  Latin  or  English,  as  "Hugh  Sot,"  etc.  He  does  not  guard 
against  his  enemies  accepting  it  as  "Henry  Southampton."  He 
addresses  a  sonnet  to  each  of  the  three  to  whom  the  book  is  dedi- 
cated. Sonnet  II  is  addressed: 

To  the  Right  Honorable  Henrie,  Earle  of  Southampton,  etc. 
Brave  Earle,  bright  Pearle  of  Peeres,  peerelesse  Nobilitie, 

The  height  of  armes  and  artes  in  one  aspiring 

Valor  with  grace,  with  valor  grace  attiring, 

Who  more  to  amplifie  vertues  habilitie, 
To  adde  to  fore-learn'd  facultie  facilitie, 

Now  liv'st  in  trauell,  forraine  rytes  inquiring, 

Honors  ingendered  sparkles  thereto  firing, 

Immutable  in  trauels  mutabilitie. 
Though  there  your  Honor  see  what  heere  we  heare, 

And  heare  what  here  we  learne  at  second  hand; 

Yet  with  good  grace  accept  what  was  invented 
For  your  more-ease,  by  yours — denoted  here, 

So  may  you  more  conceive,  more  understand 

Returne  more  complete,  trauell  more  contented. 

IL  CANDIDO. 

The  other  two  sonnets  have  the  same  signature. 


CHAPTER  X 
THE  IRISH  CAMPAIGN 

THE  fortunes  of  the  Earl  of  Essex  form  part  of  the  materials  of 
our  national  history,  but  no  one  has  worked  out  for  him  a  careful 
biography,  such  as  Spedding  has  done  for  Bacon.  Because  his 
enemies  triumphed,  his  history  has  suffered  much  in  the  telling.  It 
is  always  so — vae  victis. 

Essex  had  a  character  far  in  advance  of  his  times.  He  believed 
in  some  liberty  for  the  subject,  even  during  the  life  of  a  Tudor 
sovereign;  he  desired  toleration  in  religion  at  a  period  when  both 
parties  held  forcible  conversion  to  be  an  article  of  faith;  his  political 
scheme  was  to  give  Spain  no  rest  until  she  knew  she  was  beaten, 
but  to  pursue  a  course  of  conciliation  in  Ireland,  at  a  time  when 
the  gentle  poet  Spenser  thought  that  there  was  no  chance  of  peace 
but  by  the  extermination  of  its  inhabitants.  Brave,  generous,  pains- 
taking, self-sacrificing,  patriotic,  truthful  (except  in  the  matter  of 
the  Queen's  beauty)  as  he  was,  one  could  well  wish  the  last  chapter 
of  Elizabeth's  reign  re-written  with  an  Essex  who  died  of  his  own 
ague  instead  of  her  axe,  in  the  same  year  that  she  died.  He  would 
not  have  got  on  with  her  successor. 

He  was  descended  from  great  ancestors,  through  the  Bourchiers 
from  Edward  III1.  A  patent  was  granted  in  18  Hen.  VII T  to  his 
predecessor  Walter  Devereux,  Knight  of  the  Garter,  Lord  of  Ferrers 
and  Chartley,  to  be  "  Seneschal  Chancellor  and  Chamberlain  of  the 
house  of  our  most  dear  and  firstborn  daughter  Mary,  Princess  of 
Wales."  He  was  afterwards  made  Viscount  Hereford.  His  son 
Richard  died  in  his  lifetime,  leaving  a  young  family — Walter,  George, 
Elizabeth  who  married  John  Vernon,  and  Anne  who  married 
Henry  Clifford.  Walter,  the  second  Viscount  Hereford,  succeeded 
his  grandfather  and  married  Lettice,  the  daughter  of  Sir  Francis 
Knollys,  in  1561-2.  He  helped  the  Earl  of  Shrewsbury  to  quench 
the  rebellion  in  the  north  in  favour  of  Mary  Stuart,  was  made 
Knight  of  the  Garter  in  April,  1572,  and  Earl  of  Essex  in  May 

1  Patents  Hen.  VIII,  pt.  i.  m.  10.  zoth  May. 


140     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

following.  He  was  sent  to  Ireland  then,  and  was  there  in  1575, 
when  the  Queen,  after  the  Kenilworth  festivities,  was  received  at 
Chartley  by  his  wife.  He  wished  to  retire  then,  but  Leicester's 
influence  forced  him  to  return  to  Ireland  where  he  died  a  sad  but 
religious  death1,  leaving  four  children,  Penelope  born  in  1563, 
Dorothy  in  1565,  Robert  on  November  loth,  1567,  and  Walter  on 
October  3ist,  1569  (Francis  died  early)2.  His  steward  Waterhouse 
wrote  to  Sir  Henry  Sidney,"  Her  Majesty  hath  bestowed  on  the  young 
Earl  his  marriage,  all  his  father's  rules  in  Wales,  and  the  remittance 
of  his  debts.  The  Lords  generally  favour  him... I  do  not  think  that 
there  is  at  this  day  so  strong  a  man  in  England  of  friends  as  the  little 
Earl  of  Essex."  He  also  refers  to  the  "treaty  between  Mr  Philip  and 
my  Lady  Penelope,"  the  "Stella"  of  Sidney's  sonnets.  Nothing 
shews  why  that  match  was  broken  off,  and  she  given  to  the  base 
Lord  Rich.  Waterhouse  wrote  to  the  boy's  guardian,  Lord  Burleigh, 
"The  young  Earl  can  express  his  mind  in  Latin  and  French  as  well 
as  English,  very  courteous,  modest,  rather  disposed  to  hear  than  to 
answer,  given  greatly  to  learning,  rather  weak  and  tender  of  body, 
but  very  comely."  The  Earl  of  Leicester  made  haste  to  marry  his 
widowed  mother,  and  the  Earl  of  Essex  succeeded  to  the  favour  of 
his  stepfather  with  Elizabeth.  He  had  risen  in  that  favour  through 
his  own  attractions,  but  now  he  had  come  to  the  crisis  of  his  life. 

The  earliest  Court  news  of  the  year  1 599  comes  from  Chamber- 
lain, dated  I7th  January:  "The  Queen  danced  with  the  Erie  of 
Essex  upon  Twelfth  Day.  His  journey  is  somewhat  prolonged — 
He  shall  carry  a  great  troupe  of  gallants  with  him,  if  all  go  that 
are  spoken  of.  Spenser,  our  principal  poet,  coming  lately  out  of 
Ireland,  died  at  Westminster  on  Saturday  last."3  On  the  last  day 
of  the  month  he  writes4,  "Sir  William  Harvey's  marriage  with  the 
Countess  of  Southampton  that  hath  been  smouldering  so  long  comes 
to  be  published."  It  is  not  clear  whether  or  not  her  son  was  present 
at  the  wedding,  but  it  is  likely  that  Lord  Essex  managed  that  he 
should  be,  with  his  wife  and  sister.  Chamberlain's  letter  also  tells 
us,  "The  Erie  of  Essex's  commission  for  Ireland  agreed  to.  The 

1  See  verses  attributed  to  him  in  Paradise  of  Dainty  Devices,  1596,  and 
account  of  his  death  by  Edward  Waterhouse,  Add.  MS.  5845,  ff.  337-49. 

2  See  my  Hunnis  and  the  Revels  of  the  Chapel  Royal,  p.  172. 
»  D.S.S.P.  CCLXX.  16.  «  Ibid.  25. 


x]  THE  IRISH  CAMPAIGN  141 

presse  of  his  followers  will  be  much  abated  by  reason  that  the  Queen 
countermands  many,  as  namely  and  first,  all  her  own  servants,  the 
Earl  of  Rutland,  and  the  Lord  Grey,  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges,  Sir 
Charles  Danvers  and  many  others." 

Chamberlain  writes  on  the  I5th  of  March:  "The  Earle  of  Essex 
hath  all  his  demandes,  the  Queen  shewing  herself  very  gracious  and 
willing  to  content  him1.... He  gives  out  that  he  will  be  gone  the 
1 9th  of  this  month.  The  Erles  of  Southampton  and  Rutland  (who 
hath  lately  married  the  Countess  of  Essex's  daughter),  the  Lords 
Grey,  Audley  and  Cromwell  do  accompany  him."  (The  young 
Countess  of  Rutland  was  the  only  daughter  and  heir  of  Sir  Philip 
Sidney  by  Frances,  daughter  of  Sir  Francis  Walsingham,  who  after- 
wards married  the  Earl  of  Essex.) 

On  3 1 st  March,  "Thomas  Purfoot  Senior  and  Junior  entered  for 
their  copie  London's  Loathe  to  depart  to  the  noble  Earle  of  Essex 
Earle  Marshall  of  England,  and  Lord  General  of  her  Majesties 
forces  against  the  Irish  Rebels."* 

Essex  left  London  on  March  27th,  marching  to  Beaumaris.  He 
had  a  very  rough  passage,  landing  at  Dublin  on  the  I4th  of  April.  He 
intended  to  have  marched  directly  north  against  Tyrone,  a  plan 
rejected  by  the  Council  for  Ireland,  as  they  said  he  could  not  feed 
an  army  there.  He  also  thought  it  unwise  to  leave  enemies  behind 
him,  who  might  combine,  follow,  and  hem  him  in  when  he  did 
go  north.  So  he  commenced  proceedings  south  and  west. 

On  April  1 5th  was  signed  by  the  Earl  of  Essex,  as  Lieutenant 
and  Governor  General  of  Ireland,  a  warrant  appointing  the  Earl  of 
Southampton  Lord  General  of  the  Horse  in  Ireland.  Thereafter  he 
did  some  hard  marching  and  hard  fighting.  News  came  home  of 
a  "very  brave  charge  by  the  Earl  of  Southampton."3 

Lord  Grey  also  made  "a  brave  and  successful  charge,"  as  the 
public  described  it,  "without  the  orders  of  his  general."  But  in  the 
Diary  of  events  it  is  described  as  "against  the  orders  of  the  general," 
who  for  discipline's  sake  committed  him  to  the  marshal  for  one  night. 
Sir  Henry  Danvers  also  had  fought  well  and  was  wounded  in  the  face. 

Early  in  April  Lord  Henry  Howard  wrote  to  the  Earl  of 
Southampton4: 

1  D.S.S.P.  CCLXX.  57.  *  Stationers'  Registers. 

3  Salisb.  Papers,  ix.  133.  *  Ibid.  125. 


142     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

Though  the  time  be  short  if  we  numbered  days  since  you  departed  hence, 
yet  hath  it  seemed  overlong  to  those  that  resolve  accidents  and  observe 
revolutions.  Since  these  took  their  leave  of  their  best  company  the  pleasant 
moods  which  appear  in  sundry  persons  give  me  great  cause  to  judge  that 
all  men  were  not  created  of  one  mould,  but  they  that  build  upon  a  rock 
are  not  afraid  of  foul  weather.  I  take  no  great  delight  in  hearing  strange 
exceptions  cast  over  against  my  worthy  Lord  for  moderate  journeys,  when 
Wiseman  his  servant  was  fitted  by  the  same  person  for  riding  in  post  with 
so  great  expedition.  For  strange  it  is  that  those  burdens  should  be  laid  upon 
such  a  master,  which  in  .an  ordinary  servant  deserve  compassion.  If  you  too 
have  heard  the  manner  of  proceeding  with  my  Lord  about  Sir  Christopher 
Blounte  you  will  then  conceive  whether  I  had  reason,  as  well  out  of  judgment 
as  out  of  tenderness,  to  shrink  in  the  behalf  of  my  dearest  and  most  worthy 
friend,  at  the  beginning  of  this  enterprise.  For  this  is  only  at  the  first 
tentare  patientiam  without  any  ground,  and  after  as  advantage  riseth  upon 
accident,  to  prove  inconstancy.  The  Body  of  the  Court  begins  now  to  grow 
wholly  and  entirely  into  one  part,  and  that  not  the  best.  I  doubt  for  awhile  I 
shall  not  be  able  to  give  you  account  of  "crust  rattiones"  in  this  place,  suitable 
to  your  worthy  general's  deserts  in  those,  but  the  greater  shall  be  the  shame 
of  peevish  prejudice  when  demonstrations  shall  deface  emulations.  Pardon 
my  post  haste,  worthy  Lord,  for  I  have  left  in  the  world  but  one  quarter  of 
an  hour  to  despatch  my  salutations  to  my  dear  friends  amongst  you,  and 
besides  my  spirits  which  I  left  at  Stony  Stratford  are  scant  returned  to  their 
old  seat  back  again.  As  matters  of  importance  occur  you  shall  understand  as 
a  person  dear  to  me  for  your  own  kind  and  honourable  parts,  but  most  dear 
of  all  for  being  near  and  dear  to  him  in  whom  alone,  concerning  joys  and 
comforts  of  this  world,  I  protest  to  God  my  soul  is  satisfied.  Be  ever  in  this 
action,  and  in  all  others,  as  happy  as  I  wish  and  so  shall  you  not  be  troubled 
with  wishing  to  yourself  what  was  gained  before  by  your  constant  friend's 
anticipation.  I  should  account  it  happiness  in  summo  gradu,  which  is  more 
than  pepper  itself  is  hot,  to  be  commanded  by  you  in  anything  that  might 
either  do  you  service,  or  afford  you  satisfaction  any  way,  until  which  time 
I  recommend  my  resolution  as  a  spotless  paper,  wherein  you  shall  write 
your  pleasure,  and  so  far  as  my  strength  can  stretch  I  will  perform  it  faithfully. 
This  letter,  being  written  after  that  to  my  only  Lord,  stands  instead  of  a 
new  messenger  to  present  my  most  affectionate  and  humble  service  to  his 
Lordship.  Wednesday.  P.S.  I  beseech  you  that  I  may  be  commended  to 
my  Lord  Grey,  my  Lord  Burgh,  and  Sir  Thomas  Jermyne. 

(That  friendly  remembrance  to  Lord  Grey  comes  strangely  in 
at  this  date.) 

Fynes  Moryson  (brother  of  Sir  Richard  Moryson),  who  had 
received  such  timely  help  from  the  brothers  Danvers  in  Paris  in 


x]  THE  IRISH  CAMPAIGN  143 

1595,  became  afterwards  secretary  to  Lord  Mountjoy,  and  wrote  a 
history  of  Tyrone's  rebellion,  reprinted  in  1603,  with  additions,  as 
a  history  of  Ireland.  He  notes  of  this  period  that  Essex  had  sent 
Sir  Conyers  Clifford,  Governor  of  Connaught,  to  attack  the  rebels 
with  400  foot,  and  the  Earl  of  Southampton's  troop  of  100  horse 
under  the  leading  of  Captain  John  Jepson.  The  English  were 
attacked  among  woods  and  bogs,  and  the  rebels  drove  them  back. 
Every  one  would  have  perished,  but  for  the  timely  help  of  South- 
ampton's horse. 

Lord  Henry  Howard  wrote  to  the  Earl  of  Southampton  on 
April  27th,  I5991: 

I  doubt  not  but  you  shall  hear  by  some  other  means  of  the  constancy  of 
some  friends  of  yours  at  this  last  election.  Northumberland  was  very  gallant 
on  your  side.  So  were  Worcester  and  Mountjoy,  notwithstanding  the 
Queen's  special  bar  with  special  injury.  But  there  was  another2  whom  I  will 
not  name,  that  was  not  afraid  to  run  upon  the  pikes  of  some  that  will  be 
thought  to  be  very  special  friends  of  his,  to  shew  that  he  valued  your  friend- 
ship and  noble  virtues  more  than  other  men's  caprices  and  partialities.  But 
herof  you  must  never  take  notice,  because  I  tell  tales  out  of  school,  and 
would  not  impart  so  much  to  any  other  than  yourself.  The  world  is  more 
calm  with  us  of  late  since  your  worthy  General's  and  my  dear  Lord's  arrival. 
Even  now  the  Queen  perceives,  though  somewhat  too  late  for  the  world's 
satisfaction,  (that  wondered  at  so  many  showers  without  clouds)  that  a 
course  was  taken  rather  to  prove  constancy  than  to  tax  negligence.  I  have 
learned  by  these  storms,  raised  without  ordinary  causes,  to  seek  out  new 
grounds  in  philosophy,  and  to  prepare  myself  with  patience  against  the  next 
assaults,  when  probability  may  give  shadows  to  exceptions,  or  envy  take 
advantage  out  of  best  deserts  to  check  forwardness. 

The  Queen  begins  to  storm  exceedingly  at  my  Lord  of  Rutland's  incor- 
poration into  Jason's  fleet,  and  means,  she  says,  to  make  him  an  example  of 
contemning  princes'  inhibitions  to  all  that  shall  come  after  him.  God  send 
him  a  good  share  in  the  golden  fleece  of  honour  which  our  worthy  Lord 
shall  compass  by  his  valour,  and  then  we  will  less  fear  the  punishment  that 
is  inflicted  upon  generosity.  The  whole  Court  rejoiceth  much  at  your  safe 
arrival,  and  will  rejoice  a  great  deal  more  at  the  next  news  of  your  happy 
success  against  the  enemy.  There  want  not  some  in  this  place  that  set  light 
the  service,  as  an  enterprize  achievable  with  weaker  force  than  the  State 
employs.  Many  of  your  friends  are  well,  and  some  are  too  well,  if  you  will 

1  Salisb.  Papers,  ix.  438. 

8  This  might  have  seemed  to  have  meant  Lord  Henry  himself,  but  he 
was  not  then  a  Knight  of  the  Garter.  It  may  refer  to  his  cousin  Thomas. 


144     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

give  me  leave  to  be  merry.  We  are  only  occupied  by  entertaining  Dutch 
ambassadors1,  that  before  dinner  speak  not  very  wisely,  and  after  dinner  not 
very  warily.  We  are  only  now  in  expectation  of  your  first  attempts,  and 
thereupon  I  shall  be  able  to  give  you  some  light  of  the  Court's  construction, 
The  Queen  excluded  my  Lord  Keeper  from  nomination  in  this  last  choice 
of  Knights,  and  though  she  named  him  not,  yet  gave  cause  to  some  to 
conceive  that  his  being  named  at  the  election  before  was  the  cause  why  she 
would  not  suffer  any  enrolment  of  the  scrutiny.  Keep  this  to  yourself, 
I  beseech  you,  or  I  might  be  made  a  reporter  of  his  disgrace,  whom,  for  his 
virtue,  and  his  kind  love  to  my  dear  Lord,  I  love  and  honour.  Please  you 
to  advertise  my  Lord  of  this,  because  I  had  forgotten  to  write  of  it. 

By  reason  of  the  incompleteness  of  the  registers  of  the  Garter  in 
Elizabeth's  reign,  this  is  new  material,  both  in  Southampton's  life 
and  the  history  of  the  Garter.  It  was  not  the  first  time  he  had 
been  nominated. 

The  list  of  the  army  in  Ireland2  on  April  28th,  1599,  contains 
"Horse  appointed  to  go  with  the  Lord  Lieutenant;  his  Lordship's 

own  company, the  Earl  of  Southampton,  Sir  H.  Danvers,  Lord 

Monteigle,  Sir  J.  Leigh,"  and  others,  with  from  25  to  100  men 
to  each. 

A  touching  little  letter3  from  one  who  was  always  kept  in  the 
background  because  of  her  Majesty's  ill-will,  Frances,  Countess  of 
Essex,  begging  news  from  the  Earl  of  Southampton  of  her  lord's 
happy  proceedings  against  the  proud  rebels,  is  dated  May  I3th. 

Then  came  a  letter  from  his  mother,  saying4: 

This  is  the  third  letter  of  mine  to  you  since  I  received  one  from  you, 
though  Wyseman  and  Tracye  came  from  you,  it  made  me  a  little  doubtful 
of  your  well-doing,  till  they  did  assure  me  they  left  you  well;  so  we  presume 
for  certain  you  are  before  now  in  the  field,  and  some  service  undertaken. 
You  may  believe  I  carry  a  careful  heart  while  you  are  in  these  dangers.  I  am 
desired  by  my  Lady  Cutts  (whom  you  know  that  I  may  not  deny)  to  commend 
a  kinsman  of  hers,  a  Crockatt,  to  your  favour.  I  have  written  by  him  to 
you,  but  leave  it  to  yourself  being  assured  you  have  more  friends  to  favour 
than  means  to  satisfy  half.  I  greatly  desire  to  hear  from  you.  This  i8th  of 
May.  P.S.  We  have  a  new  Lord  Treasurer,  and  my  Lord  Chief  Justice  sworn 
councillor.  Sir  Thomas  Fortescue  utterly  refuseth  "The  Wards,"  whereat 
most  marvel.  My  Lord  of  Rutland  is  sent  for  in  great  bitterness,  it  is  feared 
the  Tower  will  be  his  lodging  for  the  time. 

1  See  p.  55.  2  Salisb.  Papers,  ix.  145. 

8  Ibid.  1 66.  *  Ibid.  173. 


x]  THE  IRISH  CAMPAIGN  145 

Endorsed  "The  old  La.  Southampton  to  her  son  the  E.  of  South- 
ampton." 

In  regard  to  the  Earl  of  Rutland,  he  had  written  to  his  uncle 
Mr  Roger  Manners,  who  replied  on  May  25th:  "I  am  always  ready 
to  serve  you.  My  credit  in  court  is  very  little  for  that  I  come  here 
very  seldom.  But  Mr  Scriven,  who  knows  your  designs  and  friends 
there,  no  doubt  solicits  them.  I  am  going  to  Enfield  until  term 
begins,  unless  Mr  Scriven  recals  me — At  the  Savoy  May  25th."1 
A  heavy  post  must  have  come  over  to  the  army  of  letters  written 
on  loth  June.  Of  these,  not  because  of  its  importance,  but  because 
it  completes  Rutland's  story,  I  take  first  Sir  Charles  Danvers'  of 
that  date  to  Southampton  himself. 

My  Lord,  I  have  been  this  month  absent  in  the  country  upon  very  earnest 
business  of  mine  own,  and  am  only  returned  within  these  two  days.  Thus 
much  I  am  desirous  to  let  your  Lordship  know  that  you  may  not  impute 
the  miss  of  my  letters  all  this  tyme  unto  mee  as  a  fault.  At  my  coming  to  the 
towne  I  understand  of  ye  order  hath  been  taken  here  touching  your  place, 
the  particulars  where  of  will  come  soone  enough  to  your  ears :  And  yourselfe, 
of  all  others,  is  best  able  to  directe  yourselfe  in  this,  as  in  all  other  cases  yt 
concerneth  you.  Your  friendes  here  find  her  Majestic  possessed  with  a  very 
hard  conceipt  and  as  they  doubt  not  but  your  deserts  in  tyme  will  be  of 
force  sufficient  to  cancel  a  greater  displeasure  than  this  so  doe  they  will  yt 
yor  Lordshippe  would  not  omitt  in  the  meane  tyme,  to  hasten  the  returne  of 
her  favor  by  such  means  as  you  judge  will  be  most  pleasing  to  hir  humour. 
Your  Lordship  hath  many  friends  that  love  you,  and  esteem  you,  but  among 
those  which  are  able  to  doe  you  service  I  feare  there  are  few  that  will  prove  so 
good  pleaders  in  your  owne  cause  as  you  once  founde.  If  your  Lordship  take 
that  course  I  will  doe  the  best  I  can  to  see  you  seconded  by  your  friends  and 
shall  be  able  to  doe  it  the  more  effectually  if  I  be  governed  by  your  instructions. 
My  Lord  of  Rutland  is  come  over,  and  from  the  Bathe,  where  he  remains 
to  cure  himself  of  a  swelling  falen  downe  into  his  legs,  hath  written  to  the 
Council  to  know  their  pleasure  whither  he  shall  still  come  up  or  be  dismissed. 
The  Tower  and  the  Star  Chamber  have  been  spoken  of,  but  the  Fleete, 
we  feare,  shall  be  his  punishment.  My  Lord  of  Cumberland  hath  been 
dealing  with  Sir  Edward  Carye  for  Grafton,  and  as  Sir  Ed.  Careye  hath 
affirmed  hath  offered  £$oo2.  I  spoke  with  Mr  Chamberlain,  and  lett  him 
knowe  your  Lordship's  desire  to  have  it,  he  feares  the  place  will  not  yield 
you  sufficient  commodity  of  wood,  for  the  maytenance  of  such  a  house  as 
you  must  necessarily  keepe,  and  that  having  no  other  land  in  yt,  you  will 
want  many  other  as  necessary  comodityes,  notwithstanding  I  have  dealt 
1  Salisb.  Papers,  ix.  180.  *  Add.  MS.  6177,  ff.  57-107. 

s.  s.  10 


146     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

with  my  mother  to  stay  the  sale,  till  I  understand  what  you  will  have  done 
in  case  my  Lord  of  Cumberland  continues  in  this  humour;  but  if  your 
Lordship  list  to  defer  it,  you  may  possess  my  Lord  of  Essex  beforehand, 
-without  whose  consent,  I  think  no  man  will  undertake  to  buy  it.  I  finde 
Sir  Robert  Sidney  willing  to  be  rid  of  his  government  and  desirous  that 
your  Lordship  should  have  the  offer  of  it  before  all  others,  but  he  thinks 
your  course  now  directed  ends,  and  that  you  are  neither  in  place  nor  state 
of  favour  with  the  Queen  to  make  the  Sute  which  must  be  undertaken  by 
whomsoever  shall  deale  with  him  for  it.  for  he  will  be  content,  but  not  be 
a  sutor  to  leave  it. 

Sir  Ed.  Stafford,  Sir  John  Stanhope,  and  Lord  Herbert  are  named  to  the 
Chancellorships  of  the  Duchy,  and  Sir  W.  Rawley  to  be  Vice  Chamberlain.... 
A  Progress  is  appointed  to  begin  the  I2th  of  July  to  Wimbledon,  and  so 
through  part  of  Surrey  and  Hampshire  to  Windsor.  So  I  humbly  take  my  leave. 
Prom  London  the  loth  June  1599.  Your  Lordship's  humbly  to  command1. 

The  letter  of  the  Privy  Council  to  Essex  of  the  same  date  was 
the  most  paralysing  that  a  man  in  his  position  could  have.  He  had 
come  as  a  forlorn  hope  to  Ireland,  to  do  the  best  he  could  for  Queen 
and  country,  with  full  powers  to  act.  He  had  specially  insisted  on 
being  free  to  choose  his  own  officers.  As  soon  as  he  landed  he  felt 
the  shortage  in  supply,  and  the  lack  of  preparedness.  He  wanted 
to  march  north  at  once,  but  the  Irish  Council  voted  against  it.  He 
had  marched  west  and  south,  partly,  no  doubt,  to  disintegrate  the 
foes  he  had  to  leave  behind  him.  During  his  difficult  march  he 
learnt  many  painful  lessons,  and  he  returned  eastward  to  face 
threatened  famine,  disease,  desertions,  disaffection,  even  in  one  case 
shameful  cowardice  before  the  foe.  He  felt  his  hands  weakened  by 
the  work  of  spies  and  informers,  his  prestige  marred  through  lack 
of  the  moral  support  of  an  approving  sovereign2,  and  now  the  one 
in  whom  most  he  trusted,  the  Earl  of  Southampton,  who  served 

1  Salisb.  Papers,  ix.  197. 

2  And  through  that  spring  had  been  running,  at  the  new  theatre  called 
the  Globe,  the  patriotic  play  of  Henry  V,  where  the  model  for  the  hero 
was  evidently  the  Earl  of  Essex.     In  the  chorus  of  Act  v.  Shakespeare 
boldly  bids  his  hearers  behold 

"How  London  doth  pour  out  her  citizens... 
As,  by  a  lower  but  loving  likelihood, 
Were  now  the  general  of  our  gracious  empress 
(As  in  good  time  he  may)  from  Ireland  coming 
Bringing  rebellion  broached  upon  his  sword, 
How  many  would  the  peaceful  city  quit 
To  welcome  him ! " 
Very  probably  both  manager  and  poet  would  be  rebuked  for  that. 


x]  THE  IRISH  CAMPAIGN  147 

his  country  through  him  with  courage,  self-denial,  and  prudence, 
with  all  the  powers  of  his  body  and  brain,  heart  and  soul,  purse  and 
influence,  was  to  be  torn  from  him  and  publicly  degraded!  What 
could  he  make  of  it?  What  would  be  the  effect  of  it  upon  the 
flagging  spirits  of  the  army,  on  his  own  power,  on  the  rebels* 
audacity,  on  the  success  of  his  aim?  He  could  not  believe  that  the 
Queen  could  purpose  such  a  thing.  But  the  letter  of  the  Privy 
Council  of  June  loth  was  clear1.  The  Queen  had  taken  it  as  an 
offence  that  he  should  have  made  Southampton  General  of  her 
Horse  in  Ireland,  when  she  had  expressly  denied  it.  Therefore 
she  bade  Essex  no  longer  continue  him  in  that  office,  but  dispose 
of  it  to  another. 

He  took  some  time  to  consider,  and,  as  Sir  Charles  Danvers  had 
suggested  to  Southampton,  he  wrote  to  ask  if  such  a  course  must 
be  before  he  took  it.  On  the  1 1  th  of  July  Essex  sent  a  long  report 
of  things  in  Ireland  to  the  Lords  of  the  Council.  The  fourth 
paragraph  runs: 

To  leave  this,  and  to  come  to  that,  which  I  never  looked  should  have  come 
to  me,  I  mean  your  Lordship's  letter  touching  the  displacing  of  the  Earl 
of  Southampton;  your  Lordships  say  that  her  Majestic  thinketh  it  strange, 
and  taketh  it  offensively  that  I  should  appoint  him  general  of  the  horse, 
seeing  that  not  only  her  Majestic  denied  it,  when  I  moved  it,  but  gave  an 
express  prohibition  to  any  such  choice.  Surely  my  Lords  it  shall  be  far  from 
me  to  contest  with  your  Lordships,  much  less  with  her  Majestic,  howbeit 
God  and  mine  own  soul  are  my  witnesses,  that  I  had  not  in  this  nomination 
any  disobedient  or  irreverent  thought.  That  I  ever  moved  her  Majesty  for 
the  placing  of  any  officer,  my  commission  freely  enabling  me  to  make  free 
choice  of  all  officers  and  commanders  of  the  army,  I  remember  not.  That  her 
Majesty  in  the  privy  chamber  at  Richmond,  I  only  being  with  her,  shewed 
a  dislike  of  him  having  any  office,  I  do  confess.  But  my  answer  was  that  if 
her  Majesty  would  revoke  my  commission  I  would  cast  both  myself  and  it 
at  her  Majesty's  feet;  but  if  it  pleased  her  Majesty  that  I  should  execute  it, 
I  must  work  with  mine  own  instruments.  And  from  this  profession  and 
protestation  I  never  varied.  Wheras  if  I  had  held  myself  barred  from  giving 
my  Lord  of  Southampton  place  and  reputation  some  way  answerable  to  his 
degree  and  expense,  no  man  I  think  doth  imagine  that  I  loved  him  so  ill  as 
to  have  brought  him  over.  Therefore  if  her  Majestic  punish  me  for  this  choice 
-poena  dolenda  venit. 

And  now,  my  Lords,  were  it  as  then  it  was,  that  I  were  to  choose,  or  were 

1  Carew  Papers,  1599,  cccvi.  p.  313;  Birch's  Mem.  II.  421;  7mA  State 
Papers,  ccv.  79. 


148     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

there  nothing  in  a  new  choice  but  my  Lord  of  Southampton's  disgrace  and 
my  discomfort,  I  should  easily  be  induced  to  displace  him,  and  to  part 
with  him.  But  when,  in  obeying  this  commandment,  I  must  discourage  all 
my  friends,  who  now,  seeing  the  days  of  my  suffering  draw  near,  follow  me 
afar  off,  and  are  some  of  them  tempted  to  renounce  me,  when  I  must  dismay 
the  army,  which  Hready  looks  sadly  upon  me,  as  pitying  both  me  and  itself 
in  this  comfortless  action — when  I  must  encourage  the  rebels,  who  doubtless 
will  think  it  time  to  hew  upon  a  withering  tree,  whose  leaves  they  see  beaten 
down,  and  the  branches  in  part  cut  off — when  the  world  now  clearly  per- 
ceiving that  I  either  want  reason  to  judge  of  merit,  or  freedom  to  right  it 
(disgraces  being  there  heaped  where  in  my  opinion  rewards  are  due) — give 
just  grief  leave  once  to  exclaim,  "O  miserable  employment,  and  more 
miserable  destiny  of  mine,  that  makes  it  impossible  for  me  to  please  and 
serve  her  Majesty  at  once!"  Was  it  treason  in  my  Lord  of  Southampton 
to  marry  my  poor  kinswoman,  that  neither  long  imprisonment  nor  no 
punishment  besides  that  hath  been  usual  in  like  cases,  can  satisfy  or 
appease?  Or  will  no  kind  of  punishment  be  fit  for  him,  but  that  which 
punisheth  not  him,  but  me,  this  army,  and  poor  country  of  Ireland? 
Shall  I  keep  this  country  when  the  army  breaks,  or  shall  the  army  stand 
when  all  our  voluntaries  leave  it?  Or  will  my  voluntaries  stay  when 
those  whom  they  have  will  and  cause  to  follow  are  thus  handled?  No,  my 
Lords,  they  already  ask  passports,  and  that  daily;  yea,  I  protest  before  God, 
they  that  have  best  conditions  here  are  as  weary  of  them  as  prisoners  of  fetters. 
They  know — this  people. know — yea  the  rebels  know,  my  discomforts  and 
disgraces.  It  is  a  common  demand  "How  shall  he  long  prosper,  to  whom 
they  which  have  her  Majesty's  ear  as  much  as  any  wish  worse  than  to  Tyrone 
andO'Donnell?... 

I  do  prostrate  myself  at  her  Majesty's  feet,  I  will  humbly  and  contentedly 
suffer  whatsoever  her  Majesty  will  lay  upon  me,  I  will  take  any  disgraceful 
displacing  of  me  or  after  punishing  of  me  dutifully  and  patiently.  But  I 
dare  not,  whilst  I  am  her  Majesty's  minister  in  this  great  action,  do  that 
which  will  overthrow  both  me  and  it.  Deal  with  me  therefore,  as  with  one 
of  yourselves  whose  faith  and  services  you  know.  Deal  with  this  action,  as 
with  that  which  will  make  you  all  joy  or  mourn.  Deal  with  her  Majesty 
according  to  her  infinite  favours  and  your  oaths,  that  she  do  not  one  day 
resume  the  saying  of  Augustus,  "  Had  Maecenas  or  Agrippa  been  alive,  she 
should  sooner  have  been  put  in  mind  of  her  own  danger...."1 

The  appointment  of  Southampton  as  General  of  Horse,  though 
made  before  the  forces  left  London,  did  not  seem  to  have  aroused 
the  Queen's  wrath  until  fostered  by  spies  and  enemies  and  by  the 
complaints  of  Lord  Grey. 

1  Irish  State  Papers,  ccv.  79,  also  Salisb.  Papers,  ix.  236. 


x]  THE   IRISH   CAMPAIGN  149 

H.  Cuffe  wrote  to  Edward  Reynolds  on  July  1 8, 1 599,  from  Dublin : 
"'  In  the  last  part  of  the  journal  sent  unto  you  by  Francis  Greene,  in 
setting  down  the  skirmish  near  Arkloughe  there  is  mention  of  a  very 
brave  charge  given  on  the  rebels  by  our  horse  under  the  leading  of 
my  Lord  of  Southampton,  where  Captain  Constable  was  hurt,  and 
Mr  Cox  was  slain.  We  set  down  the  names  of  the  gentlemen  of 
quality  engaged,  and  by  some  accident  we  have  omitted  Sir  H.  Carey, 
who  is  reported  to  have  done  very  well.  His  Lordship  was  advertised 
of  this  and  charged  us  with  it,  which  I  denied."1 

It  is  evident  that  Sir  Henry  Danvers  had  been  wounded  severely, 
as  in  the  same  month  his  brother  Charles  wrote  to  the  Earl  of 
Southampton : 

I  humbly  thank  you  for  the  pains  you  have  taken  in  delivering  the  par- 
ticularities of  my  brother's  Charting"  amendment, and  freedom  from  danger, 
which,  being  now  past,  I  hope  will  turn  him  to  some  good,  for  that  wounds 
in  the  wars,  being  the  mark  of  well  deservers,  cannot  lose  their  reward  in  a 
grateful  time. 

I  doubt  not  but  by  this  time  you  have  received  the  verdict  which  has 
passed  against  you  here,  wherein  as  you  will  find  sufficient  cause  of  dis- 
contentment in  that  it  is  a  proof  of  your  Prince's  displeasure,  so  have  you 
this  cause  of  comfort,  that  your  greatest  enemies  (by  the  proof  you  have 
given  of  yourself)  are  forced  to  confess  you  to  be  more  worthy  of  the  place 
you  hold  than  any  that  can  be  named,  and  unto  your  deserts  and  government 
are  not  able  to  take  the  least  exception.  There  is  great  expectation  what 
course  will  be  taken  by  my  Lord  of  Essex  and  yourself,  upon  the  receipt  of 
your  discharge.  It  is  vulgarly  conceived  that  the  Council's  letters,  written 
in  the  Queen's  name  will  be  presently  obeyed,  and  that  your  Lordship  will 
presently  dispose  yourself  to  return,  they  looking  no  further  than  unto  the 
ordinary  course  which  men  in  this  time  do  take  in  cases  of  such  disfavour, 
and  some  friends  of  yours  do  persuade  the  like,  both  for  the  same  cause, 
and  judging  it  moreover,  in  their  conceit  not  altogether  so  honourable  for 
you  to  remain  there,  if  you  be  sequestered  from  your  command.  But  those 
who  love  you  no  less  do  wish  that  my  Lord  of  Essex,  retaining  you  in  your 
place,  would  reply  and  expect  the  redoubling  of  the  former  commandment, 
so  much  being  held,  as  the  case  stands  very  warrantable;  or  else  that  your 
Lcrdship  would  of  yourself,  at  the  first,  without  shew  of  esteeming  it, 
resign  your  authority  into  my  Lord's  hands,  where  it  might  rest  undisposed 
of  to  any  other  so  long  as  you  continued  in  the  army,  which  should  be  even 
as  long  as  otherwise  you  had  determined.  In  the  first  place  your  friends 
do  judge  that  such  reasons  and  unanswerable  arguments  may  be  alleged  by 

1  Salisb.  Papers,  ix.  236. 


150     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

my  Lord  as  may  move  her  Majesty  to  alter  her  mind,  and  that,  they  assure 
themselves,  would  be  much  the  more  easily  effected  if  you  would  be  moved 
to  use  your  own  pen  in  such  a  style  as  is  no  less  fit  for  this  time  than  contrary 
to  your  disposition,  it  being  apparent  that  her  Majesty's  ill  conceit  is  as 
much  grounded  upon  the  sternness  of  your  carriage,  as  upon  the  foundation 
of  any  other  offence.  And  though  this  course  take  not  such  effect  as  is 
wished,  yet  your  continuance  there  will  shew  that  you  embarked  not  yourself 
into  the  journey  for  the  authority  of  such  a  place,  but  for  higher  and  more 
worthy  respects,  esteeming  not  to  have  taken  reputation  from  your  office, 
but  to  have  given  very  much  thereunto.  I  know  all  this  is  needless,  both 
for  that  I  am  acquainted  with  your  mind  in  this  case,  and  that  you  are  of 
all  other  the  wisest  to  give  yourself  advice,  yet  have  I  thought  good  to  deliver 
you  the  conceits  of  others  as  matter  for  your  own  judgment  to  work  upon. 
The  Progress  was  first  appointed  to  Wimbledon,  to  my  Lord  Keeper's  at 
Parford,  to  my  Lord  Treasurer's  at  Horsley,  to  Otelands,  and  so  to  Windsor, 
but  by  reason  of  an  intercepted  letter,  wherein  the  giving  over  of  long 
voyages  was  noted  to  be  a  sign  of  age,  it  hath  been  resolved  to  extend  the 
Progress  to  Basing,  and  so  to  Wilton." 

After  general  news  the  letter  concludes: 

Your  Lordship  shall  do  me  a  favour  to  burn  these  letters  July  1599. 
P.S.  Mrs  Bess  Russell,  when  I  was  last  at  the  Court,  desired  me  to 
remember  her  to  your  Lordship1. 

Another  letter  of  uncertain  date,  from  Lord  Henry  Howard  to 
the  Earl  of  Southampton,  should,  I  think,  come  in  here. 

It  grieves  me  very  much  to  call  to  mind  how  just  cause  you  shall  have 
rather  to  increase  your  complaint  of  wrongs  offered  to  you  without  cause  or 
colour  before  this  come  to  your  hand,  but  against  that  supreme  force  that 
wieldeth  actions  by  sovereign  predominance,  opposition  availeth  not.  The 
civil  law  termeth  enforcements  of  this  kind  vim  invincitibilcm,  rather  to 
be  put  into  the  hand  of  mediation  than  relieved  by  subordinate  authority. 
The  matter  was  disputed  here,  as  forcibly  and  pithily  as  the  very  conscience 
and  honour  of  the  cause  did  require.  They  that  wanted  credit  spake  reason; 
some  used  both  their  credit  and  their  reason  to  make  the  Queen  behold  the 
horror  of  the  case,  and  yet  I  do  persuade  myself  that  some  others,  though 
invisible,  were  willing  to  strain  all  their  faculties  in  riveting  into  the  Queen's 
own  resolution  a  moveless  negative.  Mr  Secretary  [Cecil]  commanded  the 
messenger  to  linger  five  days  after  the  Queen's  first  severe  injunction  in 
hope  that  time  would  qualify  the  sharpness  of  her  humour,  but  it  fell  out 
otherwise.  I  took  the  advantage  of  that  interim  to  send  Udall  away  to  my 
Lord  [Essex],  which  Expedition  took  small  effect,  for  though  my  end  were 

1  Salisb.  Papers,  ix.  245. 


x]  THE  IRISH  CAMPAIGN  151 

to  have  prepared  him  before  the  blow,  yet  as  I  perceive  by  Mr  Bushell, 
Udall  was  not  with  my  dear  Lord  at  his  setting  out,  which  proves  him  to 
have  been  strangely  crossed  by  the  winds,  and  holden  off  with  hard  weather. 
What  course  my  Lord  will  take  is  disputed  here;  the  likeliest  conjecture  is 
that  he  will  suspend  the  decree,  till  he  have  advertised  the  reasons  that  should 
stay  proceeding  in  a  matter  of  great  moment  without  any  reasonable  cause 
against  a  person  of  your  quality.  I  doubt  not,  if  this  course  be  taken,  but  her 
Majesty  upon  good  consideration  will  rather  relent  in  rigour  than  discourage 
her  most  faithful  ministers.  England  is  not  so  furnished  at  this  day  with 
forward  hopes  that  those  of  the  better  sort  should  in  this  manner  be  dejected 
into  forlorn  destinies.  But  the  truth  is,  howsoever  flaws  be  coloured,  the 
main  blow  is  not  stricken  at  yourself.  The  most  worthy  gentleman  that  lives 
is  pierced  through  your  side,  and  many  here  that  hear,  observe  and  under- 
stand, do  likewise  sympathize  in  their  affections.  This  fury  began  first  upon 
the  speeches  between  my  Lord  Gray  and  your  Lordship,  which  makes  men 
more  sorry  that,  since  right  was  on  your  side,  revenge  should  be  the  reward 
of  good  consideration.  Be  patient,  noble  Lord,  and  the  rather  because  your 
worth  doth  shine  more  brightly  by  the  confront  of  accidents.  They  are 
rather  to  be  pitied  than  complained  of,  as  a  wise  man  says,  that  strive  to 
please  their  humours  with  the  prejudice  of  their  own  particular.  To  those 
that  aim  by  appearances  this  charge  hath  mail  speciem;  but  to  the  wiser  sort, 
that  look  into  your  carriage  and  formally  compare  it  with  the  cause  of  anger, 
it  seemed  to  be  seges  gloriae.  Upon  our  knowledge  of  the  course  your  worthy 
General  will  take  you  may  assure  yourself,  that  as  many  heads  and  hands 
as  have  in  them  either  discretion  or  diligence  will  endeavour,  so  far  as  they 
can,  to  keep  the  measure  that  his  judgment  sounds  to  them.  The  Queen 
hath  not  been  so  sharp  in  speeches  since  that  order  given  as  before,  for 
showers  lay  great  winds,  and  choler  purged  leaves  the  veins  more  temperate. 
Some  look  for  stronger  contradiction  than  your  general's  best  friends  in 
their  discretion  could  wish,  but  they  that  are  acquainted  with  his  judgment 
in  the  matter,  and  your  love  to  him,  expect  that  he  will  plead  according 
to  the  principles  that  are  in  request,  and  you  will  suffer  much  before  you 
make  him  strain  above  his  ability. 

Haste  in  dispatching  Udall  away  upon  the  first  ejaculation  withheld  my 
hand  from  writing  to  you,  as  I  had  an  infinite  desire,  because  I  love  you 
much  and  would  shew  my  love  when  matters  are  in  greatest  extremities. 
I  hope  that  discouragement  shall  not  untwine  you  from  the  service  while 
that  Lord  commands,  that  loves  you  as  himself,  for  rather  than  your  absence 
should  disarm  him  of  so  dear  a  friend,  I  could  wish  you  out  of  your  own 
judgment  to  take  such  a  course,  if  this  decree  proceed,  as  might  more 
improve  your  honour  than  abate  your  countenance.  Men  of  your  worth  and 
haviour  receive  no  glory  from  their  places,  but  give  honour  to  the  place. 
That  room  is  highest  which  contains  the  most  worthy  man,  and  therefore 


152     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

the  more  you  abase  yourself  in  serving  under  some  true  friend  of  yours 
inferior  in  quality,  to  shew  that  duty  to  the  public  with  affection  to  your 
best  friend  prevail  against  unkindness  in  your  own  particular,  the  more  you 
grace  your  worth  in  making  wrong  a  foil  to  constancy.  I  speak  as  one  that 
loves  you,  and  would  speak  thus  to  my  nephew  Thomas  if  he  were  in  your 
state,  for  your  wisdom  in  applying  this  occasion  to  the  best  advantage  of 
your  judgment  will  erect  a  trophy  to  your  honour  in  the  eyes  of  Christendom. 
We  live  here  in  the  same  distrust  of  any  great  effect  to  be  wrought  by  this 
year's  service  [in  Ireland]  that  we  have  done  ever  since  your  arrival  on  the 
other  side.  Our  faith  is  neither  like  a  grain  of  mustard  seed  wherein  the 
birds  should  build  their  nests,  nor  like  the  seeds  of  charity  that  increase  by 
scattering.  Every  man  enquires  after  effects,  none  judge  by  possibility.  They 
never  look  into  the  means,  but  call  for  miracles  against  the  doctrine  of  the 
time  itself,  which  proves  their  date  to  be  determined.  I  pray  with  my 
soul  for  your  prosperous  success;  but  howsoever  that  fall  out,  by  want  of 
seconding  or  discouragement  of  spirits,  yet  my  knees  shall  bow  thrice  a  day 
to  God  for  the  prospering  of  your  safe  return,  with  honour,  to  your  native 
state,  that  once  again  my  deaf  Lord  may  debate  his  own  conclusions,  and 
prove  those  things  to  have  been  disposed  with  great  judgment  that  are  now 
most  unjustly  imputed  to  strength  of  humour.  I  beseech  your  Lordship,  as 
I  trust  in  you,  acquaint  me  before  your  departure  from  Dublin  with  your 
opinions  concerning  my  Lord's  purpose  either  to  return  this  winter,  or  to 
tarry  where  he  is,  for  I  protest  to  God,  the  fear  of  it  doth  cramp  me  at  the 
very  heart,  and  secret  speeches  and  advertisements  from  thence  to  that 
effect  hath  raised  certain  crests  of  men,  that  in  his  absence  hunt  after 
glory.  We  live  still  in  expectation  of  credit  yet  reserved  for  some  others  of 
the  company  that  hath  reasonably  sped;  but  the  triumphant  cars  are  not 
conveyed  into  the  Capitol  with  so  great  haste  as  was  looked  for.1 

The  answer  to  Essex's  appeal  in  favour  of  Southampton  came  on 
July  i  gth  in  a  long  fault-finding  letter  from  the  Queen  herself  In 
the  last  paragraph 

For  the  matter  of  Southampton,  it  is  strange  to  us  that  his  continuance 
or  displacing  should  work  so  great  an  alteration  either  in  yourself  (valuing 
our  commandments  as  you  ought)  or  in  the  disposition  of  our  army,  where 
all  the  Commanders  cannot  be  ignorant  that  we  not  only  not  allowed  of 
your  desire  for  him,  but  did  expressly  forbid  it,  and  being  such  a  one  whose 
counsel  can  be  of  little,  and  experience  of  less  use;  yea  such  a  one  as,  were 
he  not  lately  fastened  to  yourself  by  an  accident,  wherein  for  our  usage  of 
ours  we  deserve  thanks,  you  would  have  used  many  of  your  old  lively 
arguments  against  him  for  any  such  ability  or  commandment ;  it  is  therefore 
strange  to  us,  we  knowing  his  worth  by  your  report,  and  your  own  disposition 
1  Salisb.  Papers,  ix.  340. 


x]  THE  IRISH  CAMPAIGN  153 

from  ourself  in  that  point,  will  dare  thus  to  value  your  own  pleasing  in 
things  unnecessary,  and  think  by  your  private  arguments  to  carry  for  your 
own  glory  a  matter  wherein  our  pleasure  to  the  contrary  is  made  notorious. 
And  where  you  say  further  that  divers  or  the  most  of  the  voluntary  gentlemen 
are  so  discouraged  thereby,  as  they  begin  to  desire  passports  and  prepare  to 
return,  we  cannot  as  yet  be  persuaded  that  the  love  of  our  service,  and  the 
duty  which  they  owe  us,  have  not  been  as  strong  motives  to  these  their  travails 
and  hazards  as  any  affection  to  the  Earl  of  Southampton  or  any  other.  If  it 
prove  otherwise  (which  we  will  not  so  much  wrong  ourselves  as  to  suspect) 
we  shall  have  the  less  cause  either  to  acknowledge  it  or  reward  it.1 

By  the  same  post,  though  dated  the  day  following,  came  the  reply 
of  the  Lords  of  the  Council1,  not  an  encouraging  one.  On  this 
point  it  says: 

Where  your  Lordship  used  many  arguments  to  persuade  the  inconvenience 
the  Earl  of  Southampton's  disgracing  would  procure  amongst  the  army;  and 
where  you  urged  one  point  of  the  disposition  in  voluntaries  the  rather  in 
this  respect  to  leave  her  service,  we  found  it  rather  did  increase  than  diminish 
her  displeasure  in  that  point,  as  taking  it  a  diminution  of  her  greatness  that 
anybody's  zeal  should  be  the  colder  for  any  private  man's  disgrace.2 

It  was  made  a  clear  duty  now;  so  Essex  discharged  his  friend 
(it  may  be  certain  as  kindly  as  he  could),  and  told  the  Comptroller 
to  take  Southampton's  name  off  the  official  list.  He  sent  official 
notice  to  the  Council  of  his  obedience  to  this  "second  signification 
of  her  Majesty's  pleasure  for  the  despatching  of  my  Lord  South- 
ampton from  the  government  of  the  horse." 

Fortunately  for  us,  the  impartial  records  in  the  Carew  MSS  shew 
how  bravely  Southampton  had  borne  himself  in  Ireland  and  how 
fortunate  individually  he  had  been.  He  had  saved  the  life  of  his 
brother-in-law  and  other  gentlemen  of  note;  he  obeyed  the  Lieu- 
tenant-General  without  fear  or  hesitation;  and  he  inspired  others  to 
do  the  same.  He  was  a  gallant  soldier. 

Painful  as  the  position  was  to  both  of  them,  they  bravely  did 
their  best  to  endure.  Essex  proudly  held  his  right  in  his  hand  to 
be  his  own  General  of  Horse;  and  Southampton,  having  followed 
his  lord  in  hope,  come  fair  come  foul,  adhered  to  him  to  the  end, 
and  did  the  work  as  a  captain  that  he  would  have  done  as  general. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  Lord  Grey  expected  to  be  "the  other"  to 

1  Irish  State  Papers,  ccv.  113.  •  Ibid.  115. 


154     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH, 

be  appointed  to  that  office.  He  had  headed  the  list  of  the  knights 
made,  in  spite  of  his  breach  of  discipline,  but  he  left  the  army  about 
that  time,  and  appeared  in  London,  "discontented."  It  is  certain 
that  he  gave  his  own  version  of  the  events  in  Ireland,  and  that  not 
a  friendly  one. 

Essex  was  ill  when  he  returned  to  Dublin,  but  was  absorbed  in 
numerous  consultations  and  plans,  and  in  interminable  reports.  As  he 
wrote  to  the  Court,  "I  perform  the  uttermost  of  my  body's,  mind's, 
and  fortune's  ability,  but  it  agrees  not  with  my  health."  He  sent 
home  Southampton's  private  troop  of  horse,  now  that  their  master 
had  taken  the  place  of  an  ordinary  captain;  he  summoned  a  council 
of  war,  and  Southampton's  was  among  the  names  of  those  who  dis- 
suaded him  from  going  north.  News  of  Tyrone's  position  and 
actions,  however,  decided  him  to  go  and  attack  him  on  28th  August 
— a  fortunate  move,  for  it  brought  Tyrone  to  a  reconsideration  of  the 
opinions  he  had  built  on  gossip.  In  a  very  few  days  he  sent  a  message 
to  Essex  that  he  was  willing  to  submit  himself  to  the  Queen's  mercy, 
and  appointed  a  meeting  by  the  ford  of  Ballynahinch  on  the  Lagan, 
between  Monaghan  and  Louth.  Essex  agreed,  and  appointing 
Southampton  with  a  body  of  horsemen  to  stand  on  the  rising  ground 
behind,  to  keep  off  eavesdroppers,  he  went  down  alone  to  the  edge  of 
the  water,  and  Tyrone,  saluting  him  with  reverence,  stood  alone, 
in  the  ford,  the  water  reaching  to  his  saddle  girths. 

That  was  on  the  6th  of  September.  The  next  day  there  was 
another  meeting,  with  six  witnesses  on  either  side.  Southampton 
was  there,  of  course,  now  by  the  side  of  Essex.  On  the  gth  Essex 
accepted  the  terms,  and  gave  his  word  to  Tyrone;  and  both  parties 
went  to  their  own  quarters.  On  the  I7th  of  September  he  received 
a  passionate  letter  from  Elizabeth  disavowing  his  agreements.  He 
felt  that  it  had  become  necessary  for  the  sake  of  Ireland  and  himself^ 
for  the  honour  of  his  country  and  his  Queen,  to  put  matters  fully 
and  privately  before  her.  No  time  was  to  be  lost,  and  he  returned 
to  Dublin. 

Sir  Gelly  Meyrick  to  Edward  Reynolds,  who  as  Essex's 
secretary  was  concerned  with  keeping  the  diary  of  events,  wrote  in 
August:  "There  was  foul  errors  and  great  cowardice  committed, 
light  where  it  will.  All  things  done  here  are  but  toys,  but  I  would 
they  that  esteem  it  so  were  here  and  then  they  would  find  it  other- 


xj  THE  IRISH  CAMPAIGN  155 

wise.  To  the  north  we  will;  and  my 'Lord  will  disobey  no  command- 
ments, but  better,  had  been  better.... The  scorns  we  receive  from 
England  hinder  her  Majesty's  service  more  in  a  year  than  any 
money  will  repair.  Let  Rayleigh  and  Carey  prate.  They  are  in- 
famous for  their  service  here."1 

Towards  the  end  of  their  stay  in  Ireland  William  Udall  wrote  to 
the  Queen,  shedding  light  upon  the  methods  employed  in  the  trans- 
action. "According  to  your  Majesty's  direction  received  by  Sir  John 
Stanhope,  she  shall  understand  the  means  used  to  discover  the  speeches 
which  passed  between  the  Earl  of  Essex  and  Tyrone.  Three  gentle- 
men went  to  the  Waterside,  where  Essex  was  to  meet  Tyrone;  my 
Lord  of  Southampton  had  charge  to  keep  all  men  from  hearing,  but 
these  gentlemen  had  opportunity  by  a  hollow  place  to  shroud  them- 
selves from  sight,  and  so  heard  every  word."2  Thomas  Blount,  an 
esquire  of  good  worth,  of  Astley  in  Worcestershire,  was  one  of  them. 
Udall  told  the  Queen  what  "he  thought  he  heard"  and  understood. 

Such  was  the  treachery  that  brought  low  the  men  who  might 
have  succeeded. 

After  making  hasty  arrangements  for  the  safety  of  Ireland  and 
the  army,  and  appointing  Chancellor  Loftus  and  Sir  George  Carey 
as  special  justices  ad  interim^  Essex  started  homeward  on  September 
24th,  had  a  calm  and  prosperous  voyage,  a  breathless  ride  across  Eng- 
land, and  reached  London  on  the  28th.  "Coming  to  Westminster 
Bridge  he  took  oars,  and  went  to  Lambeth,  and  took  what  horses  he 
could.  Sir  Thomas  Gerard  overtook  him,  and  understanding  Lord 
Grey  was  a  little  in  advance,  overtook  him  also,  and  prayed  him  to 
let  the  Earl  of  Essex  ride  before  and  give  news  of  his  own  coming, 
but  he  refused,  saying  'I  have  business,'  and  pushed  on,  reaching 
Nonesuch  a  quarter  of  an  hour  before  the  Earl,  which  time  he 
passed  with  Sir  Robert  Cecil.  But  the  news  had  not  yet  gone  up- 
stairs. Essex  lighted  at  the  Court  Gate  in  post,  and  made  all  haste 
up  to  the  Queen's  bedchamber,  where  he  found  the  Queen  newly 
up,  the  hair  about  her  face.  He  kneeled  to  her,  kissed  her  hands,  and 
had  some  private  speech  with  her,  which  seemed  to  give  him  great 
contentment,  for  coming  from  her  majesty  to  goe  shifte  himself  in 
his  chamber,  he  was  very  pleasant  and  thancked  God,  though  he  had 
suffered  much  trouble  and  storms  abroad,  he  found  a  sweet  calm 
1  Salisb.  Papers,  ix.  343.  *  Ibid.  384. 


156     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

at  home.  Tis  much  wondered  at  here,  that  he  went  so  boldly  to 
her  Majesty's  presence,  she  not  being  ready,  and  he  so  full  of  dirt 
and  mire  that  his  face  was  full  of  it.  About  1 1  he  was  ready  and 
went  up  again  to  the  Queen,  and  conferred  with  her  until  half  an 
hour  after  twelve.  As  yet  all  was  well,  and  her  usage  very  gratious 
towards  him.  He  went  to  dinner  and  discoursed  of  his  travels... and 

was  visited  of  all  sorts Then  he  went  up  to  the  Queen,  and  found 

her  much  changed  in  that  small  time,  for  she  began  to  call  him  in 
question  for  his  return — She  appointed  the  Lords  to  hear  him"1 
and  she  never  saw  him  again.  Between  10  and  n  a  command 
came  to  him  to  keep  his  chamber.  On  the  2gth,  Michaelmas  day,  he 
was  summoned  to  answer  the  Lords,  and  sent  as  prisoner  to  York 
House  in  charge  of  Sir  Thomas  Egerton,  Lord  Keeper.  On  the 
3Oth  his  wife  had  a  daughter,  and  he  was  refused  permission  to 
see  her  or  any  of  his  friends.  On  the  ist  of  October  William  Wood 
entered  "as  his  copie  The  Welcome  Home  of  the  Earl  of  Essex  by 
Thomas  Churchyard^"  which  would  doubtless  lead  both  author  and 
publisher  into  some  trouble. 

The  gossip  spread  that  Essex  had  brought  over  with  him  "  many 
Lords  and  gentlemen."  The  following  is  an  extract  from  the 
Earl  of  Essex's  report  of  the  captains  he  brought  over  with  him: 
"The  Earl  of  Southampton,  a  private  Captain,  came  over  to  see  if 
there  would  be  a  conclusion  of  the  wars,  which  if  it  fell  out, 
he  purposed  to  sue  for  leave  to  seek  some  other  war — Sir  H. 
Dockwra,  nominated  to  the  government  of  Connaught,  the  last  to 
be  allowed  or  otherwise  employed  by  her  Majesty — Sir  Henry 
Danvers  for  his  private  state,  and  a  great  wound  in  his  head,  comes 

back  to  seek  remedy Captain  Thomas  Lee,  to  speak  about  his 

own  business  with  his  brother,  Sir  Henry  Lee,  and  two  others."2 

There  is  a  group  of  most  interesting  domestic  letters,  which  have 
not  been  brought  into  the  history  of  this  year  by  any  one,  and  have 
not  been  dated  correctly  by  the  editors  of  either  the  manuscript  or 
printed  calendar.  After  very  long  cogitation,  I  have  found  an  ap- 
proximate date  for  the  undated  first  one,  and  a  sure  date  for  the  later 
ones,  through  Lady  Rich's  allusion  to  the  great  wound  in  Sir  Henry 
Danvers'  head.  The  letter  I  place  first  must  have  been  written  late  in 
March  or  early  in  April,  1599.  The  Countess  of  Southampton  had 

1  Speede's  Hist.  pp.  1205-1213.  2  Irish  State  Papers,  ccv.  188. 


x]  THE  IRISH  CAMPAIGN  157 

left  her  husband,  who  was  preparing  to  start  with  Essex  for  Ireland. 
She  writes  to  him  from  an  unnamed  house,  either  on  the  way  to 
Chartley  or  at  the  house  itself.  He  must  have  been  in  London,  as  she 
gives  him  commissions  to  do  there,  one  of  them  being  to  ask  after 
the  health  of  their  baby,  who  seems  to  have  been  put  out  to  nurse 
there,  as  she  could  not  have  been  more  than  six  months  old.  Essex 
was  about  to  start  from  Beaumaris,  and  would  be  sure  to  take  the 
route  by  his  own  home,  in  order  to  arrange  matters  with  steward 
and  tenants.  Premising  this,  we  can  turn  to  the  frank  avowals  of 
the  young  wife's  love  and  appreciate  the  ingenuous  simplicity  of 
her  character,  the  freedom  of  her  style,  and  fine  examples  of 
phonetic  spelling,  illustrative  at  once  of  her  times  and  her  character. 

My  dear  Lord  and  only  joye  of  my  life,  being  very  wery  comme  to  this 
howes  with  my  long  jurney  I  wase  very  quickly  healyde  of  that  paine  with 
the  reding  your  kinde  letter  I  receved  by  Sir  T.  Egerton  the  nexte  daye 
which  hade  the  same  force  that  all  those  dearly  estimed  ons  to  me  I  have 
already  hade  and  which  I  most  sartanly  knoe  wil  worke  the  same  effecte  in 
me  continually  at  the  site  of  any  hereafter  I  shall  receve  from  you,  that  is 
to  bring  as  much  contentment  to  my  minde  as  it  can  posably  receave  when 
I  ame  severd  from  you  whom  I  do  and  ever  wil  most  infinitly  and  truly  love. 
I  hope  you  wilnot  faile  to  do  as  you  say  in  your  letter,  to  shorten  your  jurney 
that  sone  I  may  have  you  heare  with  me  I  pray  you  fale  not  to  do  so,  for 
I  most  infinitly  longe  for  you,  and  my  dear  and  only  joye  I  beciche  you 
love  forever  most  faithfully  me  that  everlastingly  will  remain  your  fatheful 
and  obedyent  wife, 

E.  SOUTHAMPTON. 

I  pray  you  remember  to  send  wane  to  your  dafter  before  you  come  hether 
that  I  maye  sartantly  hear  by  you  howe  she  dos  whoe  next  yourselfe  I  will 
ever  love  most,  and  loke  that  your  pickter  be  very  finly  done  and  brot 
hither  so  soon  as  may  be,  or  else  I  wil  do  nothing  but  chide  with  you  when 
you  come  to  me. 

Sweet  my  Lord  let  your  man  Foulke  bye  me  a  stringer  of  scarlet  haulf  a 
yeard  brode  and  as  long  at  least,  lined  with  plush,  to  kepe  my  body  warm 
a  days  which  I  must  ride.  I  send  you  word  I  groe  bigger  and  bigger  every 
day.1 

There  are  two  monogram  seals  on  silk  (cut).  The  address  is 
only  "To  my  dearly  Loved  husband  the  Earl  of  Southampton." 

Following  this  letter  are  those  dated  the  days  and  months  which 
could  fit  no  other  year  than  1599.  Some  seem  to  have  been  lost — 
1  Cecil  Papers,  cix.  31. 


158     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON    [CH. 

and  no  wonder;  the  wonder  is  that  so  many  have  been  preserved  by 
Southampton  during  the  vicissitudes  of  the  Irish  campaign,  for 
they  must  have  fallen  into  Cecil's  hands,  when  Southampton's 
papers  were  seized  on  his  attainder. 

loth  May.   Lady  Rich  to  the  Earl  of  Southampton: 

Noble  Sir, 

I  hope  my  first  letter  will  excuse  some  parte  of  my  faulte,  and  I 
assure  you  nothing  shall  make  me  neglect  to  yealde  you  all  the  ernest  assur- 
ances I  can  of  my  affection  and  desires  to  be  helde  deare  in  your  favour 
whose  worthy  kindness  I  will  strive  to  merit  by  the  faithfullest  endeavours 
my  love  can  perform  towards  you  who  shall  ever  finde  me  unremovedly, 
Your  Lo.  faithfull  cosin  and  true  friend, 

PENELOPE   RICHE. 

Your  Lordships  daughter  is  exceeding  faire  and  well,  and  I  hope  by  your 
sonn  to  winne  my  wager.  Chartley  this  loth  of  May1. 

The  Countess  to  the  Earl  of  Southampton  in  the  same  month : 

My  deare  Lord  and  only  joye  of  my  Life,  this  gentleman  giving  me  notige 
of  his  coming  to  wher  you  are  must  not  come  from  me  without  some  lines 
to  you  that  may  be  a  mean  to  plase  me  into  yor  minde  wher  I  wolde  ever 
remain  yet  his  haste  is  such  as  I  have  no  time  to  saye  more  to  you  whom 
I  love  as  my  sole  therfor  excuis  my  cribbling  whoe  end  praing  to  God  to 
kepe  you  from  all  danger  parfitly  wel  and  fast  and  son  to  bring  you  to  me 
that  ever  wil  rest  your  faithful  and  obedient  wife, 

E.  SOUTHAMPTON. 

My  Lady  Rich  that  writ  to  you  but  very  latly  desirs  you  nowe  to  excuis 
her  not  writing  being  so  il  of  a  colde  as  she  cannot  nowe  endure  to  write 
a  word.  Chartley  the  3Oth  May2. 

The  Countess  to  the  Earl  of  Southampton : 

My  deare  Lorde  and  only  joye  of  my  life  never  came  any  of  your  letters 
to  me  in  a  better  time  for  my  comfort  then  that  you  sent  me  by  this  knite, 
for  my  longing  to  heare  of  you  was  never  mor  nor  my  desir  infiniter  to  have 
from  yourselfe  sartain  knolige  that  you  weare  parfitely  wel  in  the  jurney 
which  I  harde  you  wear  gon  and  I  protest  unto  you  the  assurance  your 
letter  guiefs  me  that  you  ar  so  is  the  nues  that  my  harte  only  delites  in, 
and  which  caries  as  muche  contentment  unto  it  as  it  can  posably  inioye 
whilst  you  ar  from  me  whom  I  far  dearer  love  then  it  is  posabel  with  any 
wordes  to  expres  the  witness  you  give  me  in  your  letter  that  you  ar  not 
trobelt  for  my  not  being  as  I  protest  unto  you  I  infinitly  desirde  to  have 
bin  is  much  to  my  content  and  though  I  be  not  now  in  that  happye  state 
yet  I  doute  not  but  that  in  good  time  and  for  the  infinit  comforte  of  you 
1  Cecil  Papers,  xcix.  167.  *  Ibid.  c.  61. 


x]  THE   IRISH  CAMPAIGN  159 

and  myselfe  God  wil  bles  me  with  bering  you  as  many  boayes  as  your  owen 
hart  desires  to  have  and  I  bechiche  him  nowe  and  ever  to  presarve  you 
from  all  dangers  and  son  to  bringe  you  parfitely  wel  to  me  and  my  only 
joye  I  praye  ever  let  me  inioye  your  love  as  I  nowe  assur  myself  I  do  to  the 
infinit  joye  and  contentment  of  my  harte  and  from  it  nowe  I  sende  you 
thousandes  of  thankes  for  your  most  kinde  letter  which  brot  to  it  infinit 
comfort  and  so  end  remaining  endlessly,  Your  faithful  and  obedient  wife, 

E.  SOUTHAMPTON. 
Chartley  this  nth  of  Juin. 

Sir  Francis  Darsis  staye  at  corte  is  very  longe  God  send  when  he  comes 
wher  you  ar  his  nues  may  be  as  pleasing  as  I  wish  it  that  is  so  bad  it  allwaies 
corns  better  from  that  place  thence  it  springes  as  I  have  nede  not  to  send  it 
to  you  at  any  time,  but  feare  it  wil  by  others  to  sone  come  wheare  you  ar 
to  ease  discontented  mindes. 

I  pray  you  send  to  me  agane  as  son  as  is  posabel  for  I  do  already  mor 
than  longe  to  heare  from  you  whom  I  every  cure  wishe  my  selfe  with  and 
I  can  never  live  contented  til  I  do  enioye  that  happiness1. 

2  ist  June.  The  Countess  to  the  Earl  of  Southampton : 

My  deare  Lord  and  only  joye  of  my  life  this  letter  inclosed  I  purposed 
when  I  writ  it  Sir  Francis  darsi  sholde  have  brote  yowe,  but  nowe  his  staye 
is  so  longe  as  I  begine  to  thinke  he  shale  not  move  befoote  to  come  wher 
you  ar  and  therfor  I  do  take  and  am  very  glade  of  it  the  opertunity  this 
berer  geuifs  me  of  sending  unto  you  that  I  love  as  my  soul  and  everlastingly 
wel  and  I  do  bechich  you  to  send  to  me  assone  as  you  maye  posably  for 
I  extremely  longe  for  suche  like  assurance  as  I  have  allready  to  my  infinit 
comfort  receafde  from  you  of  your  parfit  well  being,  which  I  wil  never  sease 
to  praye  to  God  for  and  that  most  sone  I  maye  enioye  the  site  of  you  and 
ever  your  most  faithful  love  which  wil  make  me  knoe  myselfe  to  be  the 
hapiest  woman  of  the  world  and  in  it  ever  be  your  faithful  and  obedient 
wife, 

E.  SOUTHAMPTON. 

The  date  of  this  enclosed  letter  is  so  olde  as  I  might  wel  forbeare  to  send 
it  you  but  having  wonst  ment  it  to  you  canot  alter  from  that  porpos. 
Chartley  the  21  of  June. 

Excuis  what  fakes  be  in  this  leter  for  I  have  very  hastily  writen  it  and 
my  deare  Lorde  and  only  joye  I  praye  you  send  unto  mee  quickly  for  I  am 
far  from  any  of  weat  with  the  long  time  we  think  it  is  senc  you  sent  unto  me 
whoe  loves  you  and  the  thoughts  of  you  above  all  thinges  in  this  earthe. 
Your  dafter  Penelope  who  next  you  is  my  chefe  joy  is  very  wel  I  heare  of 
hir  buty  and  faire  graye  eyes  in  all  my  La:  Riches  letters  thither  and  much 
ioye  to  hear  of  but  I  feare  you  do  not  to  because  I  have  many  leters  sent 
you  word  of  it  and  I  canot  have  a  word  of  you  agayne  of  her2. 

1  Cecil  Papers,  c.  91.  Ibid.  116. 


160     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON    [CH. 
8th  July.  The  Countess  to  the  Earl  of  Southampton : 

My  deare  Lord  and  only  joye  of  my  life,  I  bechich  you  love  me  ever  and 
be  pleasd  to  knoe  that  my  La:  Riche  wil  nides  have  me  send  'you  word  how 
importunat  my  Lo:  Riche  is  with  her  to  come  to  London  fearing  he  shall 
lose  most  of  his  lande,  which  my  Lo:  Chamberlan  hopes  to  recover  but  he 
thinkes  if  she  wer  neare  London  she  wolde  make  means  to  have  the  swet 
not  proved  tel  her  brothers  coming  home  which  else  he  fears  well  goe  on  to 
his  Lordships  befor  that  tune  therefore  goe  to  him  nides  she  must. 

She  is,  she  teles  me  very  loth  to  leave  me  heare  alone,  and  most  desirus 
I  thanke  hir  to  have  me  with  hir  in  Essex,  tel  your  retorne  unto  me  and 
teles  me  she  hath  writen  both  to  you  and  hir  brother  that  it  maye  be  so, 
for  myself  I  protest  unto  you  that  your  wil  is  either  in  this  or  any  theng 
else  shale  be  most  plesing  to  me  and  my  mind  is  alike  to  all  plasis  in  this  il 
time  to  me  of  your  absence  from  me  being  at  quiet  in  no  plase  I  pray  you 
resolve  what  you  wil  have  me  do,  and  sende  me  worde  of  it,  if  you  wil  have 
me  goe  with  her  she  desirs  that  you  wil  write  a  letter  to  my  Lord  Riche 
that  I  maye  do  so  and  she  hath  sent  to  her  brother  to  do  the  like,  for  she 
ses  she  knoes  his  houmer  so  wel  as  he  wil  not  be  pleasde  unles  that  corse  be 
taken  she  wil  be  gon  befor  bartolmy  daye  therfor  before  that  time  let  me 
I  praye  you  knoe  your  pleasur.  What  I  shale  do  which  no  earthly  power  shal 
make  me  disobaye  and  what  you  dislike  in  this  letter  I  bechiche  you  laye  not 
to  my  charge  for  I  protest  unto  you  I  was  most  unwilling  to  give  you  case 
of  troble  with  thinking  of  any  such  matter  for  me  in  your  absence  but  that 
she  infinitly  desireth  me  to  do  it  and  this  lastly  protesting  unto  you  again 
that  wher  you  like  best  i  shold  be  that  plas  shal  be  most  pleasing  to  me,  and 
all  others  to  be  in  most  hatfull  for  me.  I  end  never  ending  to  praye  to  God 
to  kepe  you  ever  from  all  dangers  parfitly  wel  and  sone  to  bring  you  to  me 
who  wil  endlissly  be  your  faithfull  and  obedyent  wife, 

E.  SOUTHAMPTON. 
Chartley  the  8th  of  July1. 

The  address  runs  u  To  my  dearely  loved  husband  the  Earl  of 
Southampton."  There  are  two  seals,  monograms  and  device. 

A  postscript  written  upside  down  on  the  last  page  of  this  letter 
is  "All  the  nues  I  can  send  you  that  I  thinke  will  make  you  mery 
is  that  I  reade  in  a  letter  from  London  that  Sir  John  Falstaf  is  by 
his  Mistress  Dame  Pintpot  made  father  of  a  goodly  milers  thumb, 
a  boye  thats  all  heade  and  veri  litel  body,  but  this  is  a  secret."2 

1  Cecil  Papers,  ci.  16. 

2  This  has  been  read  by  some  as  referring  to  Shakespeare.  To  my  mind 
this  is  an  impossible  conjecture.   It  would  rather  seem  to  mean  some  person 
they  had  nicknamed  Sir  John  Falstaff,  or  the  actor  of  the  character. 


x]  THE  IRISH  CAMPAIGN  161 

The  Lady  Rich  to  the  Earl  of  Southampton : 

The  exseeding  kindnes  I  reseve  from  your  Lo:  in  hering  often  from  you 
doth  geve  me  infinit  contentement  bothe  in  reseving  assurance  of  your  health 
and  that  I  remaine  in  your  constant  favour,  which  I  will  endevour  to  merit 
by  my  affection  unto  your  Lo.  My  Lo:  Riche  doth  so  importune  me  dayly 
to  retorne  to  my  owne  house,  as  I  can  not  stay  here  longer  then  Candlemas, 
which  I  do  against  his  wil,  and  the  cause  of  his  ernest  desire  to  have  me 
come  up  is  his  being  persecuted  for  his  lande  as  he  is  in  feare  to  loose  the 
greateste  parte  he  hathe,  this  next  time  who  would  have  me  a  soliseder  to 
heare  parte  of  his  trebles,  and  is  moche  discontented  with  my  staing  so 
longe,  wherfore  I  beseche  your  Lo.  to  speake  with  my  brother  since  I  am 
lothe  to  leve  my  La:  here  alone,  and  if  you  resolve  she  shall  go  with  me  into 
Essex  which  I  very  much  desire,  then  you  were  best  to  write  to  me,  that 
you  would  have  her  go  with  me  which  wil  make  my  Lo:  Riche  the  more 
willing  though  I  knowe  he  wil  be  wel  contented  To  whom  I  have  writen 
that  I  wil  come  so  sone  as  I  knowe  what  my  brother  and  yourselfe  determine 
for  my  leding. 

I  am  sorry  for  Sir  Hary  Davers  hurte  though  I  hope  it  is  so  littel  as  it 
wil  not  marr  his  good  face  and  I  go  in  hast  and  wish  your  Lo:  all  the  honor 
and  hapiness  you  desire.  Your  Lo:  most  affectionat  cosin, 

PENELOPE  RICHE. 
Chartley  this  gth  of  July1. 

Addressed  "To  the  most  honorable  The  Earle  of  South- 
am  ton."  There  are  two  seals,  different,  one  a  sort  of  monogram, 
the  other  armorial. 

These  letters  were  written  before  the  news  reached  his  wife  of 
the  Earl's  "degradation." 

The  relatively  trifling  things  which  concerned  the  Earl  of  South- 
ampton during  this  year  were  few.  The  Stationers'  Registers  on  4th 
June,  1599,  note,  "Theis  bookes  were  burnt  in  the  Hall.  Pymalion 
. . .  Davies  Epigrammes.  Theis  were  staied.  Caltha  Poetarum,  Hall's 
Satires,  Willobie's  Adviso  to  be  called  in  (licenced  to  John  Windet 
3rd  Sept.  1594)-" 

Doubtless  in  relation  to  her  third  marriage  settlement,  Mary, 
Countess  of  Southampton,  writes  to  Mr  Secretary  Cecil  on  August 
1 9th: 

I  pray  you  take  knowledge  that  Sir  William  Harvey  hath  spoken  with 
her  Majesty  and  given  her  full  satisfaction  in  the  business  that  concerns 
us.  It  resteth  now  in  your  favour  soon  to  despatch  us,  whereof  we 

1  Cecil  Papers,  ci.  25. 
S.  S.  II 


162     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON    [CH.  x 

make  little  doubt.  He  sought  you  there  and  here  yesterday,  but  durst 
no  longer  stay,  my  Lord  Thomas  appointing  this  day  to  depart;  now 
myself  is  left  to  follow  the  despatch,  which  I  pray  further  with  your 
favour.  If  it  pleases  you  to  deliver  it  to  Mr  Luke,  he  will  make  it  ready 
for  the  seal1. 

This  particular  Irish  campaign  had  far-reaching  effects  on  all 
concerned,  which  can  only  be  followed  by  studying  and  comparing 
the  correspondence  and  the  State  Papers.  More  than  a  volume  could 
be  written  from  these,  but  I  dare  only  treat  of  those  points  which 
in  some  way  concern  directly  the  subject  of  this  memoir. 

It  may  be  interesting  here  to  enter  a  short  letter  by  the  Lady 
Elizabeth  (whom  Southampton  refused  to  marry)  to  her  cousin  Sir 
Robert  Cecil,  as  it  is  related  to  the  history  of  the  stage  and  of  her 
husband,  the  Earl  of  Derby. 

I  am  importuned  by  my  Lord  to  intreat  your  favour  that  his  man  Browne, 
with  his  company,  may  not  be  barred  from  their  accustomed  "plaing"  in 
maintenance  whereof  they  have  consumed  the  better  part  of  their  substance. 
I  desire  your  furtherance  to  uphold  them,  for,  my  Lord  taking  delight  in 
them,  it  will  keep  him  from  more  prodigal  courses,  and  make  your  credit 
prevail  with  him  in  a  greater  matter  for  my  good2. 

This  is  undated,  but  I  place  it  in  1 599,  because  of  two  entries 
found  by  Mr  Greenstreet  in  1891.  Two  letters  of  secret  news,  of 
June  3Oth,  1599,  record  that  the  "Earl  of  Derby  is  busyed  only  in 
penning  comedies  for  the  common  players,"3  when  he  was  expected 
to  be  in  some  Catholic  mischief.  Now,  as  he  was  plain  William 
Stanley  (W.  S.)  until  1 594,  this  gives  some  ground  to  those  who 
believe  that  the  Earl  of  Derby  wrote  Shakespeare's  plays. 

1  Cecil  Papers,  LXXII.  104. 

2  Ibid.  CLXXXVI.  24. 

3  D.S.S.P.  CCLXXI.  34,  35  (Genealogist,  April,  1891). 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  QUARREL  BETWEEN  LORD  GREY 
OF  WILTON  AND  THE  EARL  OF 
SOUTHAMPTON 
1599-1604 

THE  story  of  the  quarrel  forced  by  the  Lord  Grey  of  Wilton  upon 
the  Earl  of  Southampton  must  be  treated  as  a  thing  apart,  as  its 
details  would  break  into  the  more  important  historical  events 
of  his  life.  It  may  be  remembered  that  Arthur,  Lord  Grey  of 
Wilton,  Lord  Deputy  of  Ireland,  and  patron  of  the  poet  Spenser, 
died  in  1593,  an(^  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Thomas,  who  was 
seventeen  years  and  eleven  months  old  at  that  date1.  In 
1597  ne  na<^  gone  with  Essex  on  the  Island  Voyage  without 
permission,  and  was  sent  to  the  Fleet  on  his  return  for  a  short 
imprisonment;  in  the  spring  of  1599  he  had  volunteered  to  follow 
Essex  to  Ireland,  and  had  been  permitted  to  do  so.  There  the  Earl  of 
Southampton  had  been  appointed  General  of  Horse  and  was  there- 
fore Grey's  military  superior.  At  an  action  in  the  south  of  Ireland 
Grey  had  charged  on  his  own  initiative;  and,  though  he  had  been 
successful,  the  Earl  of  Southampton,  as  a  lesson  in  discipline  to  an 
undisciplined  army,  had  sent  Grey  to  the  care  of  the  Marshal  (Sir 
Christopher  Blount)  for  one  night.  Little  was  thought  of  it  at  the 
time.  Sir  Robert  Cecil,  writing  to  Sir  Henry  Neville  on  the  gth 
of  June,  said,  "If  you  chance  to  heare  any  flying  tale  that  my  Lord 
Gray  should  be  committed  in  Ireland,  the  accident  was  only  this, 
that  he  being  only  a  Colonell  of  Horse,  and  my  Lord  of  Southampton 
Generall,  he  did  charge  without  directions,  and  so,  for  order's  sake, 
was  only  committed  to  the  Marshall  one  night."2  Lord  Grey  never 
forgave  what  he  thought  an  unjustifiable  indignity,  reproached 
Southampton  openly,  complained  of  him  privately,  and  finally  sent 
him  a  challenge.  His  complaints  intensified  the  Queen's  indignation 
against  Essex  for  appointing  Southampton,  and  then  came  the 
thunderous  order  to  discharge  his  chief  officer  at  once.  Essex 
1  Inq.  P.  M.  140/92.  2  Winwood,  Memorials,  I.  47. 


164     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

expostulated  and  then  yielded.  Southampton  bore  the  affront  with 
dignified  manliness,  sympathising  most  with  his  friend  Essex.  It 
seems  to  me  that  an  undated  letter  of  Grey's  to  Lord  Cobham 
should  come  in  this  year:  "Of  late  my  Lord  of  Essex,  doubting 
whereuppon  I  should  be  so  well  favoured  at  Court  and  especially 
by  her  Majesty,  has  forced  me  to  declare  myself  either  his  only, 
or  friend  to  Mr  Secretary  and  his  enemy,  protesting  there  could 
be  no  nutrality,  I  answered  that  no  base  dependency  should 
ever  fashion  my  love  or  hate  to  his  Lordship  passions;  as  for  Mr 
Secretary,  I  had  sincerely  tasted  of  his  favour,  I  would  never  be 
dishonest  or  ungrateful."1  July  2ist. 

Though  he  headed  the  list  of  the  knights  made  by  Essex  in 
Ireland,  it  is  evident  that  he  must  have  left  Essex's  army  on  its 
march  to  the  north,  shortly  after  that  date;  for  Whyte,  writing  on 
4th  August,  says,  "  My  Lord  Grey  is  newly  come  to  court,  some 
say  discontented.  He  is  named  to  be  captain  of  a  company  of  horse."2 

He  would  be  able  to  give  his  own  version  of  Irish  affairs  before 
Essex  returned.  No  information  is  given  as  to  whether  Grey  stayed 
at  Court  or  went  back  to  Ireland,  and  again  returned  in  front  of 
Essex.  The  next  notice  of  him  was  on  the  day  before  Michaelmas 
at  Westminster,  when  Essex  was  racing  home  to  surprise  his  enemies 
and  see  the  Queen  for  himself. 

By  November,  1599,  Lord  Mountjoy  was  appointed  to  be  the 
new  Lord  Deputy  in  Ireland.  Whyte  said  on  5th  January,  1599- 
1600,  that  reinforcements  were  to  be  sent,  and  that  Lord  Grey 
desired  to  command  them.  "Lord  Mountjoy  opposes  this  as  a  thing 
dishonourable  to  him,  so  some  unkindness  grows  between  them."3 
On  the  24th  January  Whyte  tells  us:  "My  Lord  Southampton 
goes  over  to  Ireland,  having  only  charge  of  200  foot  and  100  horse. 
My  Lord  Grey  hath  sent  him  a  challenge  which  I  heare  he  answered 
thus:  That  he  accepted  it,  but  for  the  weapon  and  the  place,  being 
by  the  laws  of  honour  to  be  chosen  by  hym,  he  would  not  prefer 
that  combat  in  England,  knowing  that  danger  of  the  laws,  and  the 
little  grace  and  mercy  he  was  to  expect,  if  he  ran  into  the  danger 
of  them.  He  therefore  would  let  him  know  ere  yt  were  long,  what 

1  Salisb.  Papers,  ix.  269. 

2  See  my  articles  on  Southampton  and  Grey,  Athenaum,  Nov.  iath  and 
igth,  1904,  pp.  658,  695.  3  Sidney  Papers,  u.  156. 


xij    QUARREL  WITH  LORD  GREY  OF  WILTON   165 

tyme,  what  weapon  and  what  place  he  would  choose."1  Whyte 
seems  to  have  been  pretty  well  informed  of  the  matter  in  its  early 
stages,  but  his  notes  do  not  clear  up  the  whole  affair  as  well  as 
their  letters  do.  Unfortunately  the  challenge  itself  has  disappeared. 
The  letters  which  have  been  preserved  are  in  two  groups  among 
the  Cecil  Papers,  undated,  but  with  conjectural  dates  affixed,  which 
rarely  can  be  correct.  The  fourth  letter  of  the  second  group  (sug- 
gested to  have  been  written  in  August)  I  would  place  first,  with  a 
conjectural  date  before  2Oth  January,  1599-1600,  based  upon 
Whyte's  reference.  This  runs 

If  you  ask  why  I  have  so  long  deferred  to  seek  right  of  the  wrong  you  did 
me  in  Ireland,  I  answer  my  Lord  of  Essex's  restraint  hath  been  the  cause, 
for  I  seek  not  advantage,  not  to  brave  mine  enemy  in  misfortune.  Now  your 
return  [to  Ireland],  likely  to  prevent  [precede]  his  delivery,  I  cannot  longer 
defer  to  call  you  to  perform  what  you  there  promised,  and  to  right  me  in 
the  field,  referring  unto  you  your  due  elections,  you  are  too  honourable  by 
denial  or  distinction  to  seek  evasion,  for  thereby  the  wrong  will  be  more 
unworthy  and  the  end  less  noble.  My  Lodging  in  King  Street  London2. 

The  fifth  of  the  second  group  gives  the  reply  alluded  to  by 
Whyte  on  the  24th  of  January. 

I  have  received  your  letter  and  am  resolved  to  satisfy  you  in  the  answer 
you  desire,  not  as  to  right  any  wrong  I  have  done  you,  for  I  acknowledge 
none,  neither  am  I  ignorant  that  in  this  case,  the  question  between  us  arising 
about  a  command  of  mine  when  I  had  a  place  in  the  army  above  you,  I 
might  with  my  reputation  refuse  your  challenge,  though  I  never  meant  to 
claim  that  privilege,  being  determined  from  the  beginning  to  bring  myself 
to  some  such  place  to  answer  you  (if  you  should  call  me)  as  there  you  might 
fully  discharge  your  heart  of  the  spleen  you  bear  me.  But  you  well  know 
that  I  have  reason  to  proceed  in  this  with  much  caution,  you  having  now  so 
great  advantage  of  the  time,  by  reason  of  the  Queen's  disfavour  to  me.  You 
know  also  that  the  laws  of  England  are  severe  to  those  that  in  this  fashion 
compound  their  controversies.  Wherefore  if  I  now  go  into  Ireland,  I  shall 
hold  that  the  fittest  place  to  end  this  matter,  which,  in  respect  of  the  friend- 
ship of  the  Deputy  shall  be  no  ways  advantageous  to  me,  for  I  will  bind 
myself  by  my  promise  to  meet  you  in  any  port  town  of  Ireland,  assuring 
myself  you  may  make  choice  of  such  a  one  where  you  need  not  fear  any 
partiality  to  me.  If  I  go  not  thither  I  will,  at  any  time,  agree  to  put  myself 
in  a  bark  with  you,  and  go  into  what  part  of  France  you  will  choose  where 
we  may  soon,  and  with  much  safety,  bring  this  business  to  a  conclusion. 

1  Sidney  Papers,  u.  164.  2  Salisb.  Papers,  x.  263. 


166     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

Whatsoever  you  determine,  keep  your  counsel,  and  I  will  assure  you  by  my 
means  it  shall  not  be  spoken  of1. 

The  evident  reply  to  this  has  strayed  to  the  first  group  of  letters, 
undated,  but  entered  as  circa  Feb.  loth  1599-1600,  possibly  on 
January  23rd.  Lord  Grey  says: 

Your  right  in  nomination  of  place  extends  not  to  my  disadvantage,  but 
you  propounding  divers,  I  must  elect  one.  To  which  end  you  have  offered 
me  two  Ireland,  France.  In  the  former,  how  unlikely  for  us  ever  to  draw 
sword  the  general  notice  of  our  question,  the  respect  of  our  qualities,  the 
danger  to  those  in  whose  government  we  must  dispute  it  concludeth;  how 
disadvantageous  to  me  the  partiality  of  the  Deputy,  the  command  and 
adherents  you  possess  demonstrate.  I  therefore  conclude  of  the  latter,  most 
indifferent,  least  distant,  and  expect  to  hear  from  you  the  day  you  will 
arrive  at  Dover;  the  sooner,  the  more  will  be  your  honour,  the  less  your 
impediment  to  Irish  affairs.  I  seek  not  disputation,  but  a  speedy  and  honour- 
able conclusion.  •  GREY2. 

The  Earl  of  Southampton  to  Lord  Grey  of  Wilton,  circa  Feb. 
loth  (probably  January  a6th):  . 

Though  I  love  disputation  in  this  kind  as  ill  as  any,  yet  understand  I  so 
well  how  to  maintain  my  right,  as  I  shall  not  lose  the  least  part  of  it.  What 
offer  I  made  you  in  my  first  letter  I  will  be  ready  to  perform,  which,  if  you 
read  again,  you  will  find  France  not  spoken  of,  unless  I  go  not  into  Ireland; 
for  how  little  leisure  I  can  have  to  make  other  journeys  before  my  departure 
you  may  easily  imagine,  since  my  Lord  Mount  joy,  to  whom  I  am  engaged 
for  that  design,  is  appointed  to  take  his  leave  on  Sunday  next.  If  I  stay  any 
time,  it  is  likely  I  am  detained  by  some  occasion  of  that  importance  as  will 
tie  me  to  this  place,  and  not  yield  me  further  liberty.  Ireland  therefore  is 
the  fittest  and  only  place  I  can  now  appoint  to  meet  you  in;  the  country 
you  know  is  large,  and  there  are  in  it  many  port  towns,  far  off  from  either 
deputy  or  governor,  to  any  of  which  I  will  not  fail  to  come,  according  to 
our  agreement.  As  to  any  doubt  you  have  to  receive  bad  measure  by  means 
of  some  friends  or  dependents  of  mine,  you  may  banish  the  thought  of  it, 
for  I  assure  you  I  hate  to  think  of  any  unjust  proceeding,  and  therefore 
will  engage  myself  so  far  as  to  undertake  you  shall  have  no  wrong  offered 
there  by  any  that  is  tied  to  me  in  friendship  or  otherwise.  (A  copy  in 
Southampton's  own  hand.)3 

Lord  Mountjoy  having  gone  to  Ireland,  Lord  Grey  next  wrote: 

As  the  chief  impediment  why  you  refused  France,  you  alleadged  the 
deputies  speedy  departure.  Hee  is  gon,  you  are  heer,  and  yet  I  hear  not  of 
1  Salisb.  Papers,  x.  263.  z  Ibid.  34.  8  Ibid,  34. 


xi]  QUARREL  WITH  LORD  GREY  OF  WILTON   167 

you.  But  to  conclude  all  wordy  disputations  (worthy  rather  of  women  than 
of  men  of  war).  If  I  made  it  clear  to  you  by  my  third  letter,  I  expect  the 
performance  of  your  first,  that  you,  going  not  presently  into  Ireland  wee 
may  into  France,  but  if  by  the  Queen's  leave  you  hast  for  Ireland,  I  may 
now  receive  from  you,  the  English  port  (on  the  way  by  this  passadge)  and 
day  wee  shale  meet  in  thence  to  imbark  together  and  with  equall  number, 
for  sum  such  indifferent  place  in  Ireland,  as  by  the  liberty  of  your  first  I  am 
to  chuse  ?  If  you  accept  not  this  what  can  I  offer  ?  Only  my  cleering  must 
be  the  divulging  of  your  slack  proceeding.  GREY1. 

Southampton  answers: 

I  wonder  you  can  so  rightly  censure  verbal  disputations  in  matters  of  this 
nature,  and  yet  yourself  wade  so  deeply  into  the  error.  For  my  part,  I  have 
given  no  cause  to  multiply  words,  but  do  assure  myself  you  might  have  been 
satisfied  by  my  first  letter,  wherein  you  know  I  offered  more  than  I  was 
bound  to,  making  no  doubt  but  that  a  reasonable  answer  would  satisfy  a 
reasonable  creature,  which,  if  you  be,  I  have  said  enough ;  if  not,  I  will  cease 
to  think  further  of  this  business,  referring  to  your  choice  the  publishing  of 
what  hath  past,  which  I  am  sure  is  not  such  as  I  shall  ever  blush  to  hear 
repeated2. 

Lord  Mountjoy  left  London;  Southampton  delayed,  still  hoping 
to  be  allowed  to  kiss  the  Queen's  hand  before  his  departure.  On 
March  3Oth  Lord  Buckhurst  wrote  to  Sir  Robert  Cecil  that  the 
Earl  of  Southampton  had  asked  him  to  "move  her  Majesty  on  his 
behalf  for  her  favour  to  kiss  her  hand,  and  yf  that  may  not  be  for 
licence  to  go  again  into  Ireland."  But  he  was  too  ill  to  do  this 
himself,  and  prayed  Sir  Robert  Cecil  to  do  it  for  him,  "though 
the  first  may  be  denied,  yet  that  her  Majesty  will  be  pleased  to 
grant  the  last,  whereby  he  shall  the  better  redeem  his  fault,  and  do 
his  country  some  service." 

On  the  3rd  of  May  Whyte  wrote,  "My  Lord  Southampton,  upon 
his  going  away,  sent  my  Lord  Grey  word  that  what  in  his  first 
letter  he  promised,  he  was  now  ready  in  Ireland  to  perform,  and 
if  he  would  send  him  word  of  his  being  in  any  Port  Town,  he 
would  not  faile  to  come  unto  him,  and  so  it  rests."3 

Sir  Charles  Danvers  on  the  5th  told  Southampton,  "You  are  not 
like  so  far  as  I  can  hear  to  see  my  Lord  Gray  in  Ireland,  but  of 
that  Sir  R.  Drury  will  yield  you  an  account."4 

1  Cecil  Papers.  *  Salisb.  Papers,  x.  34. 

»  Sidney  Papers,  n.  192.        *  Salisb.  Papers,  x.  139. 


1 68     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

On  May  I3th  Whyte  told  Sidney  that  Lord  Grey  "is  resolved  to 
follow  the  wars  in  the  Low  Countries  in  hope  to  have  the  command 
that  Sir  Francis  Vere  had." 

On  May  28th  Chamberlain  wrote 

The  Lord  Gray  and  Sir  Robert  Drury  are  gon  over  with  12  or  14  horse 
to  serve  the  States,  but  it  is  geven  out  underhand  that  the  Lord  [Grey] 
means  to  make  a  start  into  Ireland  to  meet  with  the  Earl  of  Southampton 
in  Mounster,  whither  he  called  him,  but  methinks  it  is  very  far  set  and 
might  be  dere  bought  to  take  such  a  compas1. 

The  present  writer  has  fortunately  found  a  letter  from  Sir  Robert 
Drury  himself  to  Southampton: 

Noble  Lord,  ye  small  power  I  have  leaves  me  only  power  to  observe  your 
commandments  to  give  you  advertisements  of  what  worthy  matter  of  action 
was  to  be  looked  for  in  this  place.  All  that  I  can  by  any  meanes  of  intelligence 
receave  at  this  tyme,  is  that  order  is  nowe  giuven  for  ye  army  presently  to 
drawe  to  a  head  and  in  all  mens  expectations  is  to  goe  into  Flanders.  If  one 
may  beleve  ye  greatest,  they  pretend  great  actions  to  be  proiected  this 
somer.  If  your  Lordship  lose  contentment  in  Ireland,  he  hath  such  as  that 
this  place  may  give  you  expectation  of  better,  in  any  particular.  I  shold 
have  great  cause  to  be  gladd  to  see  you  here,  And  in  our  general  envy  to  be 
revenged  of  my  Lord  Graye  who  overtopps  us  with  a  baronny,  we  should 
be  very  gladd  that  you  were  here,  to  shadowe  him  with  your  earledom. 
Now  whether  it  happen  or  otherwyse,  I  shall  desyer  in  all  places  to  do  your 
Lordship  any  service.  R.  DRURY2. 

The  letter  is  addressed  "To  the  Rt.  Hon.  Earl  Southampton 
in  Ireland"  and  is  slightly  damaged. 

Grey  was  fortunate  in  the  Low  Countries,  and  the  praises  of 
his  valour  were  sounded  in  the  Queen's  ears  and  were  reported 
in  Ireland  in  July.  Shortly  afterwards,  hopeless  of  doing  any  good 
there,  the  Earl  of  Southampton  left  the  Irish  army  and  went  to 
Flanders. 

There  are  two  copies  of  a  letter  written  to  him  by  Grey  ap- 
parently about  the  end  of  July: 

Your  cominge  hether  shews  your  repentance  of  your  former  coole  answers, 
now  neither  disadvantage  of  times,  perille,  or  your  promise  can  be  pretended. 
I  call  on  you  to  right  me  and  your  former  letters.  GREY3. 

1  D.S.S.P.  CCLXXIV.  438. 

*  Lansdowne  MS.  cvn.  84. 

8  D.S.S.P.  CCLXXV.  58,  59.   Cecil  Papers,  xcvni.  1083. 


xi]  QUARREL  WITH  LORD  GREY  OF  WILTON   169 

But  the  Privy  Council  had  directed  special  letters  to  both  the 
adversaries  and  sent  them  by  Sir  Robert  Drury  to  stop  the  combat. 
These  were  dated  3rd  of  August,  and  would  not  reach  their  destina- 
tions until  some  days  later.  Southampton  seems  to  have  received  his 
copy  at  Middleburg,  earlier  than  Grey  received  his  in  Brabant. 

Southampton  replied  to  the  above: 

I  perceive  you  will  ever  mistake  me,  and  as  you  have  misunderstood  my 
former  letters,  so  you  will  not  rightly  conceive  of  my  coming  hither,  which, 
assure  yourself  was  not  caused  by  any  repentance,  for  I  know  too  well  what 
hath  passed  between  us  I  need  not  wish  undone;  though  it  shall  little  trouble 
me  if  you  still  please  yourself  in  your  error.  But  you  are  acquainted  with 
the  commandment  I  have  received  which  forbids  me  to  answer  you,  which 
howsoever  you  respect  not,  I  must  obey,  and  therefore  do  directly  refuse 
your  challenge.  But  because  you  shall  not  think  I  dare  not  walk  alone  for 
fear  of  you,  I  will  tomorrow  in  the  morning  ride  an  English  mile  out  of 
the  ports,  accompanied  by  none  but  this  bearer,  and  a  lacquey  to  hold  my 
horses  who  shall  bear  no  weapons. 

I  will  wear  this  sword  which  I  now  send  you,  and  a  dagger,  which  you 
shall  see  before  my  going,  when  you  shall  know  the  way  I  intend  to  go, 
where  I  will  attend  you  2  hours.  If  in  the  meantime  I  meet  you,  you 
may  do  your  pleasure,  for  I  will  give  no  ground,  but  defend  myself  with 
the  arms  I  carry  against  whatsoever  you  shall  offer1. 

The  royal  order  to  Southampton  was  as  follows: 

Her  Majesty,  understanding  that  your  Lordship  hath  withdrawn  yourself 
out  of  Ireland  into  the  Low  Countries,  where  the  Lord  Grey  is  also  at  this 
present,  because  it  is  publicly  known  there  is  unkindness  and  heartburn 
between  you  and  him,  and  that  you  are  noblemen  of  valour  who  are  fit  to 
reserve  yourselves  for  her  Majesty's  services,  and  not  to  hazard  them  upon 
private  quarrels,  it  has  pleased  her  Majesty,  from  her  own  mouth  to  give 
express  directions  unto  us  to  command  your  Lordship  in  her  name  (upon 
your  allegiance)  in  no  sort  to  offer,  accept,  or  hearken  to  any  challenge  or 
meeting  with  the  Lord  Grey.  Wherein  as  your  Lordship  is  a  nobleman, 
and  knoweth  more  than  a  common  person,  with  what  respective  care  you 
ought  to  obey  the  express  commandment  of  your  Sovereign,  so  it  is  expected 
that  you  carry  that  heedful  regard  to  her  Majesty's  commandment  hereby 
delivered  unto  your  Lordship,  as  her  Highness  may  have  no  cause  to  note 
any  contempt  in  your  Lordship,  by  anything  that  may  happen  between  you, 
for  she  neither  can  nor  will  suffer  the  breach  of  any  of  these  notorious  and 
wilful  disobediences  to  remain  unpunished,  according  to  the  quality  of  so 
great  an  offence.  And  because  you  shall  pretend  no  note  of  disgrace  to  be 

1  Salisb.  Papers,  x.  262. 


170     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

offered  unto  you  in  imposing  this  upon  you,  the  like  commandment  is  given 
by  like  letters  and  directions  to  the  Lord  Gray,  whereof  we  send  you  a  copy. 
From  the  Court  at  Nonsuch  3rd  August  lobo1. 

The  letter  to  Lord  Grey  is  also  preserved.  The  question  is,  then, 
did  Lord  Grey,  knowing  that  the  Privy  Council  had  sent  to  stay 
the  combat,  though  he  had  not  yet  received  his  dispatch,  take 
Lord  Southampton  at  his  word,  meet  him,  and  attack  him?  It 
is  probable  that  he  did  meet  and  attack  his  opponent,  and  that  he 
was  worsted  in  the  first  encounter. 

His  own  letter  to  the  Lords  of  the  Council,  dated  August  1 2th, 
runs: 

You  either  are,  or  shortly  will  be,  informed  of  my  disobedience.  My  letter 
was  at  Middleburgh,  and  there  failing,  was  here  delivered,  though  after  I 
received  that  from  your  Lordships,  yet  before  I  could  make  stay  of  it.  How, 
if  in  time  delivered,  your  letter  would  have  swayed,  my  future  conformity 
to  your  pleasure  shall  best  demonstrate.  BERGES2. 

Lord  Grey  wrote  to  Cecil,  probably  some  time  in  September,  "  I 
cannot  think  myself  at  home  until  you  know  of  my  return  by  whose 
command  I  expect  my  direction.  I  have  a  message  of  ceremony, 
but  would  willingly  rest  two  or  three  days  if  you  so  think  good."3 

About  the  same  time,  Southampton  wrote  to  Cecil  that  it  was 
not  his  fault  that  he  had  not  seen  Cecil  since  his  arrival,  but  he 
was  assured  by  Lord  Cobham  that  the  Secretary  purposed  not  to  be 
in  London  last  week.  Otherwise  he  had  resolved  to  attend  his 
coming,  as  Lord  Cobham  and  Lord  Thomas  Howard  can  bear 
witness4. 

Whyte  says  on  3rd  October,  "The  Earl  of  Southampton  and 
Lord  Grey  are  both  in  London,  little  speech  of  their  quarrel." 

On  the  loth  Chamberlain  tells  Carleton  that  they  had  both 
"come  out  of  the  Low  Countries  unhurt,  though  it  were  constantly 
reported  they  had  fought  and  spoiled  each  other." 

Early  in  the  new  year,  gth  January,  Lord  Grey  with  a  party 
of  attendants  attacked  Southampton  in  the  streets  of  London  near 
Duresme  House,  when  he  was  quietly  riding  alone  with  only  a  boy 
to  hold  his  horse.  Southampton  defended  himself  till  help  came,  but 
the  boy  lost  his  hand  in  helping  his  master.  Sir  Henry  Neville  told 

1  Salisb.  Papers,  x.  262.  *  Ibid.   273. 

»  Ibid.  333-  *  Ibid.  333- 


xi]  QUARREL  WITH  LORD  GREY  OF  WILTON   171 

this  to  Winwood  on  2Qth  January,  1600-1.  "My  Lord  Gray, 
upon  some  new  conceived  discontent,  assaulted  my  Lord  South- 
ampton on  horseback  in  the  street,  for  which  contempt  against  her 
Majesty's  commandment  given  to  them  both  he  was  committed  to 
the  Fleet."1 

Grey  was  soon  released,  and  lost  no  favour  by  his  "contempt" 
and  breach  of  the  peace.  The  malcontent  Earls  renewed  their 
scheming,  and  before  they  knew  what  they  were  about,  they 
were  branded  as  traitors  to  the  Queen.  Within  three  weeks  of  his 
breach  of  the  peace  and  "contempt"  of  the  Queen's  orders,  Grey 
was  put  in  charge  of  the  little  army  sent  out  to  take  them. 

1  Winwood,  Mem.  i.  292. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  PERILS  OF  "CONTEMPT" 
1599-1600 

THE  Earl  of  Essex  on  October  2nd,  1 599,  was  committed  as  prisoner 
to  the  charge  of  a  friendly  jailor,  Sir  Thomas  Egerton,  Lord  Keeper 
at  York  House.  It  was  a  large  and  rambling  old  building,  where 
Essex  was  allowed  to  take  his  choice  of  rooms  and  where  such  com- 
forts as  could  be  given  him  were  provided.  But,  as  Sir  Thomas  said, 
*'  I  have  always  found  the  air  and  accidents  of  this  place  noisome  and 
unwholesome  to  my  weak  body.  I  wish  it  may  be  good  for  his."1  In 
this  undesired  residence, separated  from  his  wife  and  new-born  child, 
from  his  relatives  and  friends,  Essex  was  examined  and  re-examined 
on  his  actions  and  the  causes  of  his  actions  during  the  preceding  six 
months.  Whyte  said,  "Never  any  one  answered  with  more  temper, 
more  gravity,  more  discretion  to  the  matters  laid  to  his  charge."  On 
October  6th  he  said,  "Essex  is  ill,  no  one  goes  to  see  him.  Old  Lady 
Walsingham  begged  the  Queen  to  let  him  write  to  his  wife,  but  it 
has  not  been  allowed  as  yet."  The  main  charges  against  him  were: 
that  he  did  not  march  northwards  against  Tyrone  immediately  on  his 
arrival  in  Ireland,  as  had  been  arranged;  that  he  had  made  the  Earl 
of  Southampton  General  of  the  Horse  against  the  Queen's  will;  that 
he  had  made  too  many  knights;  that  he  had  made  a  treaty  with 
Tyrone  dishonourable  to  England ;  and  that  he  came  home  against 
orders2.  He  might  have  appealed  to  his  Commission,  as  all  these 
points  were  allowed  him  therein;  but  in  detail  he  said  that  he  had 
planned  to  go  north  at  once,  it  was  true,  but  when  he  saw  the 
state  of  the  country  and  the  supplies,  he  yielded  to  the  advice  of 
the  Irish  Council  and  settled  the  southern  provinces  first.  To  the 
second  charge  he  acknowledged  that  the  Queen  had  objected  to  his 
nomination  of  Southampton  in  December,  1598,  as  being  too  soon 
after  that  youth's  "contempt"  in  his  marriage,  but  he  had  answered 
that  he  was  willing  to  cast  his  Commission  and  himself  at  her 

1  Salisb.  Papers,  ix.  412. 

8  See  Licence  Carew  Papers,  p.  295.  Lingard,  History,  vi.  597. 


CH.XH]       THE  PERILS  OF  "CONTEMPT53  173 

Majesty's  feet;  yet  if  he  were  to  do  any  good,  he  must  be  allowed 
to  choose  his  own  instruments,  and  it  was  some  months  later  that 
he  had  appointed  Southampton,  after  his  "contempt"  had  been 
purged  by  the  punishment  usually  inflicted  in  such  cases.  The 
making  of  knights  was  of  those  who  had  deserved  well  for  their  service 
under  great  difficulties  and  without  other  reward.  He  did  go  north 
against  Tyrone,  but  he  made  no  overtures  of  peace;  Tyrone  had 
come  and  humbly  begged  an  armistice,  which  he  felt  would  work 
out  better  for  the  conclusion  of  his  enterprise  than  anything  else 
which  could  be  done;  and  when  the  Queen  wrote  severely,  he  felt 
it  was  necessary  that  he  should  see  her  at  once,  face  to  face,  that  he 
might  explain  the  position.  "All  the  Lords  that  were  his  friends 
would  have  released  him;  but  the  Queen  angrily  told  them,  such  a 
contempt  should  be  publicly  punished."1 

Southampton's  wife  and  Essex's  sister  had  evidently  been  staying 
with  the  Countess  of  Essex  in  her  anxious  time,  and  to  Essex 
House  Southampton  himself  would  naturally  go  on  his  return  from 
Ireland,  there  to  rest,  and  await  his  friend,  who,  to  the  anxiety  of 
them  all,  did  not  come  home.  We  may  be  sure  he  would  do  what  he 
could  for  him  and  his.  "A  house  is  kept  at  Essex  House  for  the  Lord 
and  Lady  Southampton  and  the  family,"  wrote  Whyte  on  the  3rd 
of  October.  The  press  of  people  who  came  to  visit  them  annoyed 
the  Queen,  or  at  least  the  Court,  and,  being  prudent  for  their 
friends'  sakes,  the  Ladies  Southampton  and  Rich  went  out  of 
town,  evidently  not  far  off.  Whyte  wrote  on  the  nth,  "The 
Ladies  Southampton  and  Rich  were  at  Essex  House  but  have 
gone  to  the  Country  to  shunne  the  Company  that  daily  were 
wont  to  visit  them  in  towne  because  yt  gave  offence  at  Court. 
Essex's  very  servants  are  afraid  to  meet  in  any  place  to  make  merry, 
lest  it  might  be  ill  taken.  At  the  Court,  my  Lady  Scrope  is  only 
noted  to  stand  firm  unto  him.  My  Lord  Southampton  and  Lord 
Rutland  come  not  to  the  court,  the  one  doth,  but  very  seldom, 
they  pass  the  time  in  London  merely  in  going  to  plaies  every  day."2 
Southampton  probably  went  to  stay  with  Rutland  at  the  time,  his 
own  house  being  leased  out.  Rutland's  town  house  was  in  Holywell, 
a  stone's  throw  from  the  site  of  the  Theatre  and  the  house  of  the 
Curtain.  But  the  materials  of  the  Theatre  by  this  time  had  been 
1  Sidney  Papers,  25th  October,  1599,  »•  *35-  z  Ibid-  I32- 


174     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

carried  away  by  the  Burbages  to  the  Surrey  side  of  the  water,  and 
had  reared  their  heads  high  on  Bankside  under  the  new  name  of 
"The  Globe."  Interested  in  the  drama,  the  players,  and  the  poets, 
these  two  would  find  some  rest  and  relaxation  in  witnessing  even 
daily  performances,  some  strength  and  consolation  in  the  philosophy 
of  human  life  as  sketched  by  Shakespeare.  We  know  that  Henry  V 
was  on  the  boards  that  year;  it  would  probably  be  forbidden  when 
troubles  grew  great  in  Ireland.  We  are  not  sure  of  the  other 
performances,  but  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  Hamlet  was  even 
then  soliloquizing. 

Before  the  i6th  of  October  "My  Lady  Essex's  daughter  was 
christened  by  the  Earl  of  Southampton,  the  Lady  Cumberland  and 
Lady  Rutland,  without  much  ceremony."  So  the  Earl  was  for  the 
second  time  at  least  a  godfather  to  a  girl. 

By  November  the  speeches  in  the  Star  Chamber1  shewed  the 
laboured  efforts  of  the  Council  to  please  the  Queen  by  finding 
Essex  guilty  of  something  serious.  He  said  himself  that  he  might 
have  been  in  error,  but  there  was  no  contempt  in  him,  only  an  effort 
to  serve  the  Queen,  and  to  seek  the  greatest  good  for  England. 
But  he  grew  very  weary  of  the  wrangles. 

The  speeches  in  the  Star  Chamber  against  Essex  were  eagerly 
followed.  The  general  feeling  in  this  country  found  expression  in  a 
letter  of  John  Petit  from  Antwerp  in  December.  "We  hear  that 
the  Earl  of  Essex  is  still  deprived  of  Liberty,  and  that  his  enemies, 
wanting  substantial  matter  to  charge  him,  make  mountains  of 
molehills.  The  Council  of  England's  repute  for  wisdom  and  dis- 
cretion is  much  lost,  men  say  that  they  are  either  carried  away  with 
passion,  or  yield  too  much  to  the  passions  of  others.  All  wonder  that 
for  an  imputed  contempt^  one  who  has  so  well  deserved  of  her 
Majesty  and  the  Commonwealth  should  be  so  deeply  disgraced. 
His  troubles  are  imputed  to  proceed  from  the  malice  of  his  adver- 
saries, and  the  Queen's  inconstancy,  suffering  herself  to  be  carried 
away  by  the  false  information  of  his  known  enemies."2 

About  that  time  Essex  wrote  his  memorable  letter  to  his  friend  and 

cousin,  the  Earl  of  Southampton:   "I  have  ceased  to  be  a  Martha 

caring  about  many  things,  and  believe  with  Mary — I  wish  you  the 

comfort  of  unfeigned  conversion.    I  was  only  called  by  Divines, 

1  D.S.S.P.  CCLXXIII.  35,  36,  37,  38.  2  Ibid.  45. 


xn]  THE  PERILS  OF  "CONTEMPT"  175 

but  your  Lordship  now  has  the  call  of  one  who  knows  the  end  of 
all  this  world's  contentment.  I  have  explained  the  way  of  salvation, 
and  will  never  go  to  sleep  or  awake  without  prayer  for  you."1 

His  sister  Penelope  begged  to  be  allowed  to  visit  her  brother; 
both  of  his  sisters  implored  the  Queen  to  let  him  be  removed  to  a 
more  healthful  place;  reproachful  criticisms  regarding  his  treatment 
were  hung  up  in  the  Court.  For  the  overspent  and  weakly  body 
finally  succumbed  to  the  wear  and  tear,  the  anxiety  of  mind,  the 
aching  of  heart,  the  hopelessness  of  his  prospects,  combined  with 
confinement  in  unwholesome  air,  and  he  had  fallen  very  seriously 
ill.  He  was  prayed  for  in  the  churches.  He  was  said  to  be  at  the 
point  of  death — it  was  even  reported  that  he  was  dead2.  The 
Queen  at  last  sent  eight  physicians.  He  managed  to  survive  them 
all,  and  by  the  new  year  he  was  able  to  get  up  and  be  dressed. 
There  was  no  improvement  in  his  position,  but  his  wife  was 
allowed  to  come  during  the  day  and  nurse  him. 

The  Queen  did  not  like  to  leave  Ireland  ungoverned,  and  wanted 
to  send  Lord  Mount] oy.  At  first  he  refused,  hoping  to  induce  the 
Queen  to  send  Essex  back.  Many  in  Ireland  as  well  as  England 
hoped  he  would  return  and  solve  their  difficulties.  Elizabeth  was 
determined  he  should  not.  By  1st  December  Lord  Mount]  oy's 
patent  was  signed,  and  he  was  ordered  to  make  himself  ready. 
Seeing  that  he  could  do  no  good  to  his  friend  Essex,  Southampton 
agreed  to  return  with  Mount] oy. 

He  had  many  things  to  arrange  before  then.  There  is  one 
curious  letter  to  Julius  Caesar,  Master  of  Requests. 

A  certain  Francis  Marr  has  brought  a  case  against  Bullock,  the  bearer,  a 
late  servant  of  Mr  Heneage  and  mine,  concerning  a  pretended  title  unto 
the  Bailiwick  of  the  Strond.  Her  Majestic  referred  the  case  to  you,  but  she 
evidently  does  not  know  that  it  has  already  been  heard  thrice  in  Mr  Heneage's 
time,  once  in  the  open  court  before  the  complainant,  when  Mr  Secretary  was 
Chancellor,  and  he  saw  no  reason  to  rippe  up  a  suit  decided  by  his  predecessor, 
which  were  a  bad  example. .  .  . 
From  the  Savoy  this  1 6th  of  December,  1599.  Your  very  frynd, 

H.  SOUTHAMPTON. 

He  prays  Caesar's  careful  consideration  to  this. 

Whyte's  letters  to  Sir  Robert  Sidney  are  very  full  of  the  "young 

1  D.S.S.P.  Add.  xxxiv;  17.  *  Add.  MS.  12,507. 


1 76     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

Lord  Herbert,"  Sidney's  nephew.  His  ague  was  keeping  him  at 
Ramsbury,  "to  his  own  greatest  griefe  who  desires  to  be  here  at 
this  time."  A  little  later  he  notes  that  Lord  Southampton,  my  Lord 
Effingham,  and  Sir  Charles  Danvers  were  at  Ramsbury;  that  Lord 
Herbert  was  better  and  hopes  to  come  to  town;  and  that  "Mrs 
Fitton  is  sick  and  gone  from  court  to  her  fathers."  "My  Lady 
Pembroke  desires  some  of  your  excellent  tobacco."  This  was  for 
the  use  of  Lord  Herbert,  whose  frequent  headaches  it  eased. 

In  1599  the  Countess  of  Southampton  also  had  a  dedication. 
Anthony  Gibson,  who  either  wrote,  translated,  or  edited  a  little 
volume  called  A  woman's  woorth,  defended  against  all  the  men  in 
the  worl^  dedicated  it  "  to  the  Right  Honourable  Lady  Elizabeth, 
Countess  of  Southampton." 

The  Love  (most  honoured  Lady)  that  I  owe 
To  your  high  vertues,  cannot  be  confin'd 
In  words  or  phrases;  nor  can  paper  show 
The  obiect-lesse  endevours  of  my  mind. 
How  then  shall  any  (though  the  purest  spirit 
That  sucks  the  seau'n-fold  flower  of  art)  expresse 
The  genuine  glories  of  your  Angell-merit, 
Which  shine  the  more,  in  that  you  make  them  lesse  ? 
Now  could  I  wish  I  had  a  plenteous  braine, 
That  thence  (as  from  Invention's  clearest  floud) 
Those  forms  might  flow,  compos'd  in  a  rich  Vaine : 
That  crowne  your  noblesse,  and  enrich  your  bloud. 
Then  would  my  zeale  breake  forth  like  morning's  fier 
That  now  lyes  spent  in  sparkes  of  my  desier1. 

Whyte  wrote  on  the  1 5th  of  March,  "  My  Lord  of  Southampton 
is  in  very  good  hope  to  kiss  the  Queen's  hand  before  his  going  to 
Ireland.  Mr  Secretary  is  his  good  friend,  and  he  attends  it.  His 
horses  and  stuffe  are  gone  thither."  On  the  i6th  he  wrote  again  to 
Sidney,  "The  time  draws  near  her  Majestic  should  send  to  Embden 
to  discuss  the  controversy  with  the  King  of  Denmark's  Commis- 
sioners. The  Earl  of  Southampton  was  named,  and  yourself  also,  as 
fittest  for  that  employment."  By  the  22nd  of  March  Southampton 
had  not  kissed  the  Queen's  hand. 

The  Dutch  Commissioners  had  come  to  court.    On  March  8th 

1  Printed  by  John  Wolfe,  1599.  Three  sonnets  follow  the  dedication,  the 
first  to  Mistress  Anne  Russell,  the  second  to  Mistress  Margaret  Radcliffe,  the 
third  to  Mistress  Mary  Fitton. 


xn]  THE  PERILS  OF  "CONTEMPT"  177 

Whyte  wrote  to  Sidney,  "All  this  week  the  Lords  have  been  in 
London  and  passed  away  the  time  in  feasting  and  plays  ____  Upon 
Thursday  my  Lord  Chamberlain  feasted  Vereiken,  and  made  him 
a  very  great  and  delicate  dinner,  and  there  in  the  afternoon  his 
plaiers  acted  before  Vereiken,  "Sir  John  Oldcastle"  to  his  great 
contentment."1  (This  suggests  a  literary  puzzle.) 

On  the  29th  of  March  Whyte  said,  "My  Lady  Rich  and  Lady 
Southampton  are  gone  to  Lies  in  Essex." 

Southampton's  cousin,  Lord  Montague,  had  got  into  some 
trouble,  probably  about  his  religion.  On  the  1  3th  of  April,  relying  on 
the  support  of  his  father-in-law,  the  Lord  Treasurer  Sackville,  he 
wrote  from  Sackville  House  to  Cecil,  "  I  am  emboldened  to  make  my 
suit  unto  you  that  whereas  I  am  by  her  Majesty's  favour  now  shortly 
to  appear  before  you  and  the  Council  for  my  further  enlargement 
I  may  by  your  favour  be  graced  with  such  equal  and  upright 
conditions  as  may  be  offered  to  a  Subject;  who  giveth  place  to  no 
man  living  in  obedience  to  his  Prince,  nor  holdeth  any  other 
religion  than  by  which  I  am  taught  to  prefer  her  Majesty  to  all 
other  Potentates"  —  a  letter  suggestive  of  many  things2.  Whyte  on 
1  9th  April  said,  "My  Lord  of  Southampton  deferred  his  departure 
for  one  week  longer,  hoping  to  have  access  to  Her  Majesties  presence 
but  it  cannot  be  obtained.  Yet  she  very  graciously  wished  him  safe 
going  and  returning."3 

On  26th  May,  1600,  he  notes,  "This  morning  my  Lord  Herbert 
and  Sir  Charles  Danvers  have  taken  water  and  gone  to  see  my 
Lady  Rich  and  Lady  Southampton  almost  as  far  as  Gravesend,  it 
will  be  Thursday  ere  they  return."4 

Lord  Mount)  oy  was  to  go  to  Ireland  after  the  holidays;  rein- 
forcements were  to  be  sent  over  to  strengthen  his  army.  Whyte 
said  on  the  5th  of  January,  1599-1600,  "Lord  Gray  desires  the 
command  of  the  forces.  ...  Lord  Mountjoy  opposes  this  as  a  thing 
dishonourable  to  him,  so  some  unkindness  grows  between  them."5 
This  was  but  a  reflection  of  the  "unkindness"  grown  between 
Lord  Grey  and  the  Lords  Essex  and  Southampton.  Already  Lord 
Grey  had  sent  the  challenge  to  the  latter. 

In  February  they  stopped  the  proceedings  in  the  Star  Chamber 

1  Sidney  Papers,  n.  175.  *  Salisb.  Papers,  X.  109. 

»  Sidney  Papers,  n.  189.  *  Ibid.  197.  6  Ibid.  156. 


s.  s. 


178    THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

because  they  could  prove  no  offence  against  Essex,  and  this  made 
the  Queen  furious  again.  She  also  was  very  angry  when  she  heard 
that  his  mother,  Southampton,  and  some  of  his  friends  had  gone  to 
a  house  next  door  to  York  House  and  from  a  window  saluted  the 
captive  as  he  was  walking  in  the  garden.  Lady  Rich  was  com- 
manded to  keep  her  own  house.  The  Queen  made  up  her  mind  to 
send  Essex  to  his  own  house,  as  Egerton  was  weary  of  his  responsi- 
bility; but  that  was  delayed,  it  was  said,  because  some  of  his  friends 
had  gone  thither  to  welcome  him.  Whyte  says  on  nth  March, 
"By  command  Lady  Leicester,  Lord  and  Lady  Southampton, 
Mr  Greville  and  Mr  Bacon  are  all  removed  from  Essex  House.  My 
Lord  is  expected  to  remain  with  2  keepers,  Sir  Drue  Drury  and 
Sir  Richard  Barkley."1  He  was  removed  thither  on  igth  March, 
and  things  seemed  to  mend. 

Southampton  was  to  follow  Mountjoy,  delaying  only  to  take  his 
leave  of  the  Queen,  if  he  could  find  sufficient  grace.  Lord  Buck- 
hurst  wrote  to  Sir  Robert  Cecil  on  March  30,  1600,  "I  had  for- 
gotten to  write  you  of  the  earnest  desire  which  my  Lord  of  South- 
ampton yesterday  did  make  unto  me,  that  I  would  move  her 
Majesty  on  his  behalf  for  her  favour  to  kiss  her  hand,  and  yf  that 
may  not  be  for  licence  to  go  again  into  Ireland.  Since  my  indisposi- 
tion will  not  permit  me  to  accomplish  his  desire  myself  I  pray  that 
you  will  in  my  behalf,  and  though  the  first  part  may  be  denied,  yet 
that  her  Majesty  may  be  pleased  to  grant  the  last,  whereby  he  shall 
the  better  redeem  his  fault,  and  do  his  country  some  service."2 

It  seems  to  have  been  April  before  he  actually  started.  Whyte, 
writing  on  the  26th,said,  "My  Lord  of  Southampton  went  away  on 
Monday  last,  Sir  Charles  Danvers  brought  him  as  far  as  Coventry, 
and  returned  yesterday  night.  He  is  a  very  fine  gentleman  and 
loves  you  well."  It  is  a  little  dubious  which  of  the  two  Whyte 
means  to  praise,  but  I  believe  that  in  this  case  the  last  sentence 
refers  to  Southampton  rather  than  to  Danvers.  In  his  following 
letter  he  says  that  on  his  going  away  Southampton  wrote  to  Lord 
Grey,  to  say  that  he  was  now  ready  to  perform  what  he  had  pro- 
mised him. 

Sir  Charles  Danvers  wrote  to  Southampton  on  the  5th  of  May: 
"I  will  not  let  any  messenger  pass  without  a  letter  to  the  end, 
1  Sidney  Papers,  n.  179.  z  Salisb.  Papers,  x.  86. 


xnj  THE  PERILS  OF  "CONTEMPT"  179 

though  I  can  write  you  nothing,  you  may  at  the  least,  know  there 
is  nothing  to  be  written.  I  have  not  heard  from  you  yet  from  the 
sea-side,  but  the  wind  having  served  you  so  well  all  this  week  I  make 
no  doubt  you  have  been  in  Ireland  three  or  four  days  and  that,  at 
the  first  turning  of  the  wind,  your  friends  here  shall  hear  from  you. 
My  Lord  of  Essex  is  still  where  he  was,  and  as  he  was,  with  no 
more  hope  of  better  than  when  you  left  him.  All  other  things  stand 
likewise  in  the  same  state.  You  are  not  like  so  far  as  I  can  hear  to 
see  my  Lord  Gray  in  Ireland,  but  of  that  Sir  R.  Druery  will  yield 
you  an  account.  PS.  I  have  just  received  your  letter  from 
Lerpoole"  [Liverpool]1. 

The  next  day  Danvers  wrote  again:  "Three  letters  of  mine  to 
yourself,  my  Lord  Deputy,  and  my  brother  went  away  this  morning, 
whereby  your  Lordship  may  guess  that  I  have  little  to  write.  Only 
this  news,  that  Doctor  Herbert  shall  on  Sunday  be  sworn  a  Coun- 
cillor and  Secretary."2 

On  2nd  June  the  Lord  Deputy  writes  that  in  some  skirmishes 
by  the  way  the  rebel  was  beaten  back,  and  that  my  Lord  South- 
ampton with  a  few  horse,  finding  some  of  our  foot  engaged,  "made 
a  valiant  charge  and  brought  them  off  to  his  reputation  here." 

On  Saturday  jth  June  Whyte  wrote:  "On  Thursday  the  matter 
passed  with  my  Lord  of  Essex — His  speech  was  very  discreet  My 
Lord  Keeper  said  that  the  Contempts  deserved  imprisonment  in  the 
Tower,  to  be  fined,  and  to  have  all  his  offices  taken  from  him. 
My  Lord  Treasurer  left  out  the  Tower,  my  Lord  Admiral  the 
fine.  Mr  Secretary  made  a  wise  grave  speache  of  these  contempts  of 

his  towards  her  Majestic It  was  concluded  he  should  return  to 

the  place  whence  he  came  till  her  Majestie's  further  pleasure  were 
known.  The  poor  Earle  then  besought  their  Honours  to  be  a 
means  to  her  Majestic  for  grace  and  mercy,  seeing  there  appeared 
in  his  offences  no  disloyalty  to  her  Majestic,  but  ignorance  and 
indiscretion  in  himself.  I  heare  it  was  a  most  pitiful  and  lamentable 
sight  to  see  him  that  was  the  mingnon  of  Fortune,  now  unworthy 
the  least  honour  he  had :  many  that  were  present  burst  out  in  tears 
at  his  fall  to  such  misery."3 

Sir  Gelly  Meyrick  wrote  to  Southampton  more  fully  on  the  nth 

1  Salisb.  Papers,  x.  139.  *  Ibid.  140. 

*  Sidney  Papers,  n.  200. 

12 — 2 


i8o     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

(Sir  Charles  Danvers  had  -been  present):  "The  first  charge  was 
the  making  of  your  Lordship  General  of  the  Horse,  being  clouded 
with  her  Majesties'  displeasure.  It  was  bitterly  urged  by  the 
Attorney,  and  very  worthily  answered  by  my  Lord.... Many 
invectives  were  urged  by  the  attorney,  with  letters  shewed  from 
Ormond,  Bowcher,  and  Warren  Saintleger.  My  Lord  in  answer- 
ing that  said  God  knew  the  truth  of  things,  and  has  rewarded 
two  of  them  for  their  perfidiousness.  Then  his  Lordship  was 
interrupted,  and  wished  to  continue  as  he  had  begun,  which  was 
to  submit  to  her  Majesty's  gracious  favour.  In  the  end  the  Lords 
did  deliver  their  opinions,  and  in  that  council  did  sentence  that  my 
Lord  should  forbear  the  execution  of  his  Councillor's  place,  and  the 
Marshall's  place,  and  the  Master  of  the  Ordnance'  Place  until  it 

were  her  Majesty's  further  pleasure  to  restore  him To  all  my 

Lord  spake  with  a  reference  to  his  ends.  The  Lords  and  the  rest 
freed  his  Lordship  from  any  disloyalty.  All  delivered  their  opinion 
concerning  the  sequestration  of  the  offices  saving  my  Lord  of 
Worcester.  My  Lord  of  Cumberland  dealt  very  nobly.  The  rest 
all  had  one  counsel,  which  was  fitting  to  clear  the  Queen's  Honour, 
with  which,  God  be  thanked,  I  hear  she  is  well  satisfied,  and  yet 
a  part  is  tomorrow  to  be  handled  in  the  Star  Chamber,  and  a  Sunday 
Liberty.  Then  will  we  all  thank  God."1 

One  can  imagine  how  interested  Southampton  was  in  his  home 
despatches  just  then.  A  strange  project  of  his  own,  however,  seemed 
to  have  taken  shape,  either  suggested  by  some  friend,  or  elaborated 
by  himself.  He  wished  to  be  made  Governor  of  Connaught  in  these 
stormy  times.  I  gather  that  the  two  following  letters  refer  to  this. 

Sir  Henry  Danvers,  who  was  in  Ireland,  but  not  serving  near  him, 
wrote  his  friend  on  June  I4th: 

I  have  imparted  to  my  Lord  Deputy  your  desire,  which  he  seems  most 
desirous  to  satisfy,  as  you  shall  find  more  at  large  by  his  own  letters....!  have 
sent  you  hereinclosed  all  such  letters  as  here  I  find  for  you,  with  a  particular 
English  relation  of  their  good  fortune  in  the  Low  Countries,  to  increase  our 
misfortune  here,  that  can  never  have  the  like  occasion,  but,  buried  in 
obscurity,  die  like  dogs.  The  news  that  I  know  will  best  please  you  is  the 
liberty  of  my  Lord  of  Essex,  yet  at  Walsingham  House,  and  preparing  to 
lie  at  Grafton,  rather  advised  than  commanded  to  retain  few  followers,  and 
to  let  little  company  come  unto  him.  My  Lord  hath  not  yet  received  the 
1  Salisb.  Papers,  x.  178. 


xii]  THE  PERILS  OF  "CONTEMPT"  181 

packet  that  brings  the  resolution  concerning  yourself,  yet  particular  letters 
shew  that  the  2000  foot  and  200  horse  are  granted.  The  famous  Earls  of 
Rutland  and  Northumberland  moved  with  the  Low  Country  Honour,  are 
•embarked  thither,  where  the  report  goes  my  Lord  Gray  received  a  hurt  in 
the  face,  and  had  lost  his  life  if  Sir  Robert  Drurye  had  not  rescued  him.... 
My  Lord  will  be  within  twoo  days  at  the  Nanau,  and  Sir  Oliver  Lambert 
goes  out  of  Leace  into  the  County  of  Washfourd  with  those  forces.... Your 
horses  are  arrived1. 

The  letter  is  endorsed  in  error  "Ch.  Davers." 
On  June  Qth  Southampton  wrote  to  Cecil  from  Dublin: 
My  Lord  Deputy  having  at  this  time  written  unto  you  to  move  the 
Queen  in  my  behalf  concerning  the  government  of  Connaught,  I  must  of 
necessity  be  so  far  troublesome  unto  you  as  to  let  you  know  how  I  affect  it 
and  then  to  leave  it  to  your  discretion  whether  you  think  fit  to  farther  it  or 
no.  It  is  a  place  I  protest  unto  you  I  am  nothing  greedy  of,  neither  would 
I  at  all  desire  it,  but  in  hope  by  that  means  to  effect  somewhat  whereby 
to  recover  her  Majesty's  good  conceit,  which  is  my  only  end,  and  all  the 
happiness  I  aspire  unto.  If  she  hold  me  fit  to  do  her  service  in  it,  I  shall 
gladly  employ  my  time  and  hazard  my  life,  to  perform  what  can  be  in  reason 
expected;  if  not,  I  shall  without  grudging  receive  her  denial.  My  only  suit 
to  you  is  to  procure  an  answer  with  as  much  expedition  as  may  be:  and  how- 
ever it  prove  I  assure  you  I  shall  account  myself  exceedingly  bound  unto  you2. 

A  letter  of  the  Lord  High  Admiral,  the  Earl  of  Nottingham,  to 
the  Earl  of  Southampton,  which  has  been  entered  as  of  1599, 
evidently  should  come  in  here: 

Your  first  letter  I  received  a  fortnight  since  by  Sir  Francis  Rush,  but 
could  do  nothing  in  Sir  Edward  Herbert's  absence.  Now  he  is  come  I  will 
assist  his  relief  the  best  I  may.  Another  letter  I  received  yesterday  from 
your  Lordship,  which  signifies  a  purpose  of  the  Deputy  to  employ  you  in 
Connaught,  of  which  charge,  and  a  much  greater,  I  know  you  to  be  very 
•worthy,  and  the  first  sight  I  get  of  Mr  Secretary,  I  will  labour  to  make  for 
you  a  speedy,  and  I  hope  a  good  answer,  knowing  no  cause  but  that  the 
State  should  be  glad  to  be  sufficiently  served  by  a  nobleman  of  your  quality 
in  those  places  of  trust,  and  in  these  barren  times  that  afford  so  few  so  willing 
as  yourself.  But  my  fear  is  that  a  former  despatch  before  the  arrival  of  Mr 
Fenton  doth  appoint  Sir  Arthur  Savadge  to  that  place  to  hold  it  as  he  did 
before,  may  give  impediment  to  my  Lord  Deputy's  purpose,  for  so  much 
I  heard  Mr  Secretary  say  he  had  written  by  command.  I  will  not  fail  to 
assist  these  captains  you  have  named  with  my  best  help  for  their  employment. 
By  the  next  despatch  I  will  give  you  an  honest  account  of  my  devotion  to 

1  Salisb.  Papers,  x.  182. 

2  Irish  State  Papers,  vol.  ccvu.  pt.  3,  no.  101,  Calendar,  231. 


1 82     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

do  you  service  in  these  things  you  have  committed  to  me.... Howard  House 
1 9th  June1. 

Nothing  followed.  For  the  third  time  Southampton's  valiant 
services  went  without  royal  recognition,  and  for  the  second  time 
the  Queen's  representative  in  Ireland  thought  him  suited  for  a 
command,  and  the  royal  grant  was  refused  because  of  his  "con- 
tempt" in  marrying  the  woman  of  his  choice. 

The  next  letter  from  Sir  Charles  Danvers  on  the  2gth  June  was 
a  disappointing  one2.  All  things  stood  still.  Essex's  delivery  from 
his  keeper  had  been  expected;  but  delay  after  delay  had  taken  place 
"lest  he  should  think  mercy  to  be  showed  without  discretion.'* 
The  Queen  would  hear  of  no  motion  for  his  release  until  plans 
were  made  for  the  degrading  of  the  knights  that  he  had  made. 
Many  had  represented  to  her  the  inconvenience  of  doing  this.  "You 
will  hear  of  the  success  of  our  great  battle  in  Flanders  from 
Deputy."  Danvers  would  have  delayed  writing  until  he  could  give 
Southampton  clearer  information,  but  his  messenger  could  wait  no 
longer.  Essex  really  remained  a  prisoner  in  his  own  house  through 
July.  The  Carew  Papers  give  much  information  regarding  Irish 
affairs,  which  cannot  here  be  followed — but  it  is  worth  noting  that 
on  ist  July,  Lord  Deputy  Mountjoy  told  Sir  George  Carew  "one 
day  in  the  morning  Tyrone  did  think  to  have  taken  a  great 
advantage  over  the  Earl  of  Southampton  and  the  Sergeant  Major 
in  their  passage,  but  by  the  valour  of  them  two  especially,  and 
by  my  drawing  out  the  forces  at  the  same  time  to  meet  them,  he 
departed  with  loss."3  Probably  this  is  the  year  of  a  letter  dated 
July  1 4th  from  Mountjoy  to  Southampton,  saying  that  he  had 
given  Fitzgarret  a  protection  against  his  will,  not  fitting  the  course 
he  held  with  the  knave  Udall4. 

Southampton  wrote  to  Sir  Robert  Cecil  on  July  22nd  from 
Dublin: 

I  wrote  unto  you  not  long  since  by  Sir  Geoffrey  Fenton,  about  a  request 
which  my  Lord  Deputy  made  in  my  behalf  for  the  government  of  Connaught, 
of  which  he  hath  of  late  received  no  answer,  wherewith  he  hath  acquainted 
me.  The  trouble  you  put  yourself  to  in  moving  it  is  an  addition  to  the 
many  favours  you  have  been  pleased  to  shew  me,  wherefore  for  that  with 

1  Salisb.  Papers  MS.  93,  144.  *  Salisb.  Papers,  x.  208. 

3  Carew  MSS.  *  Cecil  Papers,  cvr.  i. 


xii]  THE  PERILS  OF  "CONTEMPT"  183 

the  rest,  I  must  and  will  acknowledge  myself  bound  unto  you,  though  for 
the  bad  success  you  found  (more  than  I  am  sorry  her  Majesty  thinks  me  so 
little  able  to  do  her  service)  it  grieves  me  nothing,  the  place  being  such 
that  I  protest  unto  you  I  think  any  that  doth  understand  it  aright  will  not 
greatly  desire  it.  How  far  and  why  I  did  affect  it,  I  made  you  know  in  my 
last  letter,  my  hope  being  by  that  means  to  cancel  her  Majesty's  ill  conceit 
of  me,  and  to  be  settled  in  her  good  opinion,  which  if  I  have  already  recovered 
by  any  punishment  I  have  endured,  or  service  I  have  done  her,  I  am  much 
more  happy  than  if  I  were  put  there  to  seek  it  with  so  great  pain  and  hazard 
as  must  of  necessity  belong  to  him  that  undertakes  that  work.  And  now 
since  I  have  here  nothing  to  do,  but  as  a  private  man,  which  condition 
cannot  afford  me  means  to  performe  aught  worth  the  thinking  of,  and  that 
I  do  desire  to  spend  my  time  so  as  I  may  best  be  enabled  to  serve  her  Majesty, 
I  doe  intend,  God  willing  to  go  hence  into  the  Low  Countries,  to  live  the 
rest  of  this  summer  in  the  States'  army,  where  perhaps  I  may  see  somewhat 
worth  my  pains,  and  I  hope  her  Majesty  will  not  be  offended  with  it,  seeing 
both  now  and  ever  I  will  study  nothing  more  than  to  direct  my  course  to 
do  her  service.  Sir,  I  have  still  found  you  kind  and  friendly  unto  me,  and 
therefore  I  beseech  you  in  this  which  concerns  me  nearest,  which  is  the 
recovery  of  her  favour,  yield  me  all  the  furtherance  you  may,  and  assure 
yourself  I  will  never  be  ungrateful  but  ready  to  deserve  it  any  way  I  may, 
and  remain  always  willing  to  obey  your  commandments1.  [Endorsed"  1600."] 

Sir  Arthur  Chichester,  asking  Cecil  for  some  promotion  in 
Ireland  on  August  23rd,  said,  "My  Lord  of  Southampton's  horse 
are,  as  I  hear,  already  given."2 

On  the  2nd  August  Cecil  wrote  to  Carew;  the  last  paragraph 
runs:  "I  pray  you,  commend  me  affectionately  to  the  Earl  of 
Thomond,  of  whom  the  Queen  is  infinitely  satisfied.  For  the  feare 
he  had  to  be  commanded  by  any  other,  named  to  Connaught,  let 
him  be  assured  he  shold  never  have  come  under  him,  but  that  is 
dissolved,  for  the  Earl  of  Southampton  is  come  away,  and  goes  into 
the  Low  Country."3 

It  is  evident  that  promotion  of  any  kind  was  to  be  denied  South- 
ampton in  Ireland. 

Whyte  by  the  8th  of  August  had  heard  that  Southampton  was  in 
the  Low  Countries,  and  that  Sir  Robert  Drury  had  letters  to  stay 
the  combat  between  him  and  Lord  Grey.  Royal  orders  were  sent 
to  both,  forbidding  a  duel4.  Apparently,  however,  Southampton, 

1  Irish  State  Papers,  1600,  vol.  ccvii,  part  4,  42,  Calendar,  p.  328. 
*  Salisb.  Papers,  x.  285.  s  Camden  Series,  82,  p.  14. 

4  Salisb.  Papers,  x.  285. 


1 84    THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

though  outwardly  obedient,  put  himself  in  a  position  of  peril,  and 
Lord  Grey,  not  having  received  as  yet  his  official  instructions, 
attacked  him,  but  no  wounds  seem  to  have  been  received  on  either 
side. 

By  August  23rd  Cecil  heard  from  Middleburg,  "My  Lords  of 
Northumberland  and  Southampton  are  here.  My  Lord  of  Rutland 
is  in  Hollan,  and  my  Lord  Gray  in  service  with  the  horse  troops 
in  Brabant."1 

The  Earl  of  Essex  was  still  a  prisoner  in  his  own  house  on  July 
24th2,  so  the  Earl  of  Southampton  may  have  seen  him  in  passing. 

Chamberlain  wrote  on  the  loth  October,  that  Essex  was  at 
Barne  Elms.  "His  frends  make  great  means  that  he  may  run  on 
Queen's  Day  (November  lyth)  and  are  very  confident  to  see  him 
shortly  in  favour,  beleve  as  much  as  you  list,  I  nere  a  whit."3 

Essex  made  one  last  pitiful  appeal  to  be  received  back  into  the 
ranks  of  the  Queen's  loyal  servants,  and  his  letter  remained  un- 
answered. He  was,  however,  allowed  to  go  to  his  own  properties, 
to  visit  his  friends  and  relatives  in  the  country,  and  his  health  was 
doubtless  benefited  much  by  his  freedom,  rest,  and  change  of  air. 

An  undated  letter  to  him  is  placed  in  the  Calendar  as  about  this 
period,  but  must  have  really  been  written  in  1589*.  It  is  from  the 
Countess  of  Essex  (his  mother),  announcing  that  her  marriage  to 
Sir  Christopher  Blount  was  "to  come  a  Tuesday  sennight,"  and 
regretting  that  her  son  could  not  be  present.  This  was  an  unfortunate 
marriage;  Sir  Christopher  had  but  little  money  of  his  own,  and  got 
through  his  wife's  with  amazing  rapidity.  He  was  devoted  to  his 
stepson,  who  made  him  one  of  the  trustees  of  his  property,  with  the 
Earl  of  Southampton.  There  is  no  clear  record  of  Southampton's 
doings  through  the  last  three  months  of  the  year,  but  one  dedication. 

"To  the  most  Noble  and  aboundant  president  both  of  Honor  and 
vertue,  Henry  Earle  of  Southampton. 

"  'The  Historie  of  the  Uniting  of  Portugall  to  Castill" 
Right  honorable  and  most  woorthy  Earle, 

It  is  not  my  fortune  to  be  so  infortunately  read,  as  to  begin  (after 
the  common  stampe  of  dedication)  with  a  grai-headed  apophthegme,  or 
some  straied  sentence  out  of  Tully,  but  in  such  proper  and  plaine  language, 

1  Salisb.  Papers,  x.  291.  z  Ibid.  243. 

8  D.S.S.P.  CCLXXV.  89.  *  Cecil  Papers,  CLXXIX.  164. 


xn]  THE  PERILS  OF  "CONTEMPT'3  185 

as  a  most  humble  and  affectionate  dutie  can  speake,  I  do  heere  offer  up  on 
the  altar  of  ray  hart,  the  first  fruits  of  my  long-growing  endevors;  which 
(with  much  constancie  and  confidence)  I  have  cherisht,  onely  waiting  this 
happie  opportunitie  to  make  them  manifest  to  your  Lordship :  where  nowe 
if  (in  respect  of  the  knowne  distance,  betwixt  the  height  of  your  Honorable 
spirit,  and  the  flatnesse  of  my  poore  abilities)  they  turne  into  smoake  and 
vanish  ere  they  can  reach  a  degree  of  your  merite,  vouchsafe  (yet  most 
excellent  Earle)  to  remember  it  was  a  fire  that  kindled  them,  and  gave  them 
life  at  least,  if  not  lasting.  Your  Honors  patronage  is  the  onely  object 
I  aime  at ;  and  were  the  worthinesse  of  this  Historic  I  present  such  as  might 
warrant  me  an  election  out  of  a  worlde  of  Nobilitie,  I  woulde  still  pursue 
the  happines  of  my  first  choise;  which  has  since  beene  confirmed  to  me  by 
my  respected  friend  the  translator,  a  Gentleman  most  sincerely  devoted  to 
your  Honor :  For  the  subject  it  selfe  I  dare  say  nothing;  since  it  is  out  of  my 
element  to  judge.  But  I  have  heard  others  report  it  (and  some  of  them  also 
judicious)  to  be  a  thing  first  and  excellently  written  in  Italian;  then  trans- 
lated into  French,  and  generally  received  in  both  these  toongs  through  all 
christendome  for  a  faithfull,  elegant,  sinewie,  and  well  digested  historic: 
what  the  beauties  of  it  are  now  in  this  English  habite,  I  make  your  Honorable 
Lordship  the  first  and  most  competent  Censor;  wishing  that  before  you 
begin  to  read  farther,  you  could  but  reade  my  silence, 

By  him  that  wants  much  to  expresse 
his  dueties  to  your  Honor 

EoW.  BLOUNT1. 

1  The  printer  of  the  book. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  CONSPIRACY 

1600-1 

THE  Earl  of  Essex  returned  to  London  after  Christmas,  still  hoping 
against  hope  for  access  to  the  Queen's  presence.  His  friends  became 
all  the  more  eager  to  help  him  to  attain  his  desire.  The  blow  that 
struck  the  knell  of  peace  was  Lord  Grey's  attack  upon  the  Earl 
of  Southampton1  in  the  streets  of  London  on  the  9th  of  January, 
in  contempt  of  the  Queen's  definite  order  to  both  of  them  to  keep 
the  peace.  It  is  true  that  Grey  was  shortly  after  sent  to  the  Fleet 
prison,  where,  according  to  Chamberlain2,  he  remained  only  until 
the  2nd  of  February,  when  he  was  released  and  restored  to  the 
Queen's  favour. 

This  incident  deeply  affected  the  Earl  of  Essex,  and  made  him 
feel  that  some  action  had  become  necessary.  To  his  soldier's  mind 
a  forlorn  hope  might  even  yet  succeed,  if  it  were  but  brave  enough. 
He  and  his  friends  were  busy  with  plans.  To  limit  the  number 
of  his  visitors  and  avert  suspicion  from  some  of  them,  he  arranged 
that  those  who  meant  business  should  meet  at  Sir  Charles  Danvers* 
lodging  in  Drury  House  in  Wych  Street  (now  removed  for  the 
widening  of  the  Strand).  He  never  went  there  himself;  South- 
ampton took  his  place.  The  subject  of  discussion  was  always  the 
same,  "How  can  we  best  help  the  Earl  to  remove  his  enemies  from 
the  Queen's  ear,  and  leave  him  free  to  plead  his  own  cause  with 
her?"  Every  answer  was  hedged  with  difficulty 

The  Earl  of  Southampton  must  have  been  sometimes  absent  from 
these  meetings.  On  January  26th,  1600-1,  Sir  Gelly  Meyrick 
wrote  to  Captain  John  Jephson,  then  at  Carrickfergus,  "  I  was  the 
other  day  at  Itchin  at  my  Lord  of  Southampton's,  where  I  saw  your 
noble  brother."3  ("Itchin,"  or  Itchell,  was  one  of  Southampton's 
places  in  Hampshire,  the  house  in  which  his  father  died.)  This 

1  Sir  Henry  Neville  to  Winwood,  Winwood  Papers,  i.  292. 

2  D.S.S.P.  CCLXXVIII.  27.  3  Salisb.  Papers,  xi.  20. 


CH.  xmj  THE  CONSPIRACY  187 

remark  must  be  remembered,  and  one  or  two  contemporary  facts 
must  also  be  noted. 

William,  Lord  Herbert1,  on  the  5th  of  January  desired  to  stay  at 
Wilton  with  his  sick  father.  On  January  1 8th  he  said,  "  I  doubt  he 
will  not  live  48  hours.  There  have  been  many  false  and  scandalous 
reports  forged  of  me."2  The  Countess  of  Pembroke  had  written 
for  herself  and  her  lord  to  thank  the  Queen  for  her  kindness  to 
their  son3.  On  the  igth  Henry,  second  Earl  of  Pembroke,  died4, 
bequeathing  his  title,  his  property,  and  as  much  of  his  possessions 
as  he  could  to  his  elder  son  William,  and  leaving  as  little  as 
possible  to  his  wife.  Whyte's  letters  to  Sir  Robert  Sidney  follow 
the  young  lord's  career  closely. 

In  Chamberlain's  letter  of  3rd  February5  he  foreshadows  trouble 
for  him  through  his  amour  with  Mistress  Mary  Fitton.  On  the 
5th  Cecil  wrote  to  Carew,  "We  have  no  news  but  that  there  is  a 
misfortune  befallen  Mistress  Fitton... the  Earl  of  Pembroke  being 
examined  confesseth  a  fact,  but  utterly  renounceth  all  marriage.  I 
feare  they  will  both  dwell  in  the  Tower  awhile,  for  the  Queen 
hath  vowed  to  send  them  thither."6 

The  contrast  of  Pembroke's  with  the  Earl  of  Southampton's 
dealings  with  a  Queen's  maid  of  honour,  and  the  consequences  to 
each,  are  worthy  of  close  consideration. 

In  discussing  grievances,  plans  for  amendment,  methods  of  action, 
the  time  passed  until  the  ist  of  February,  which  was  a  Sunday. 
Essex  had  been  rilling  his  house  with  friends,  sympathisers, 
preachers,  and  advisers — a  sort  of  exoteric  court;  but  whenever  he 
became  sure  of  his  men,  or  thought  he  might  be  so,  he  sent  them 
to  the  esoteric  teaching  at  Drury  House.  Friends  were  being 
collected  from  a  distance.  One  such  friend  was  Sir  Charles  Percy, 
brother  of  the  Earl  of  Northumberland,  of  whom  we  know  one 
interesting  fact.  He  had  married  a  Miss  Cocks,  and  through  her 
had  become  Lord  of  the  Manor  of  Dumbleton  in  Gloucestershire. 
He  found  the  society  and  intellectual  atmosphere  there  very  dull, 
and  he  heartily  endorsed  Shakespeare's  view  of  the  inhabitants. 
Then,  on  the  2jth  day  of  an  uncertain  December,  queried  in  State 

1  Sahsb.  Papers,  xi.  3.  2  Ibid.  13. 

3  Cecil  Papers,  xc.  147.  *  Salisb.  Papers,  xi.  14. 

5  D.S.S.P.  CCLXXVIII.  6  Camden  Series,  R.  Ac.  8113/82,  p.  64. 


1 88     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

Papers  as  1600?,  he  wrote  to  his  friend  Carleton,  "I  am  so  pestered 
with  Country  business  that  I  cannot  come  to  London.  If  I  stay 
here  long,  you  will  find  me  so  dull,  that  I  shall  be  taken  as  a  Justice 
Silence  or  a  Justice  Shallow,  therefore  take  pity  of  me,  and  send  me 
news  from  time  to  time,  the  knowledge  of  which,  though  perhaps 
it  will  not  exempt  me  from  the  opinion  of  a  justice  Shallow  in 
London,  yet  will  make  me  pass  for  a  very  sufficient  gentleman  in 
Gloucestershire.  If  I  do  not  always  answer,  pray  do  not  desist  from 
your  charitable  office,  that  place  being  so  fruitful  and  here  so  barren, 
that  it  will  make  my  head  ache  for  invention.  P.S.  You  need  not 
forbear  sending  news  hither  in  respect  of  their  staleness,  for  I  assure 
you  they  will  be  very  new  here."1 

It  is  possible  that  this  letter  belongs  to  the  end  of  the  previous 
year,  but  that  Essex's  need  was  sufficient  to  bring  him  to  London, 
the  place  where  news  were  manufactured.  At  any  rate,  we  find 
him  among  the  Drury  House  band  in  February.  It  was  on  his 
suggestion  that  Richard  II  was  played.  It  is  a  possibility  the  first 
part  of  Henry  IV  was  played,  in  the  rendering  which  included  the 
killing  of  Richard  II;  that  he  had  not  seen  Richard  II  performed; 
and  that  quite  innocently  he  wished  to  do  so,  in  order  to  relate 
it  to  the  Henry  IV  Pt.  7,  which  in  1597  included  old  Blunts  and 
Vernons  and  Percys  among  its  characters,  and  to  Henry  IV  Pt.  //, 
which  in  I59&2  had  introduced  Justices  Shallow  and  Silence  to 
the  gorgeous  humours  of  Falstaff.  Also,  he  wanted  to  know  what 
the  joke  was  which  made  the  assembled  gallants  at  Plymouth  so 
wonderfully  merry  in  I5973  over  Sir  Robert  Cecil's  "conceipt 
of  Richard  II "  according  to  Sir  Walter  Raleigh.  It  is  quite  possible 
that  all  the  "evil  intent"  of  the  play  had  been  conceived  and 
inserted  by  unwise  friends  and  interested  enemies  of  the  fated  Earl. 
It  was  one  of  their  methods  of  attack. 

So  we  can  picture  the  party  who  went  over  the  water  to  the 
Globe,  possibly  to  listen  to  Shakespeare's  company  playing  Shake- 
speare's tragedy  in  the  poet's  words,  some  of  them,  perhaps,  from 
his  own  mouth,  on  February  the  yth,  the  eve  of  the  fatal  day4. 
True,  it  is  quite  possible  that  it  was  a  play  by  some  other  dramatist; 
for  the  subject  was  very  much  discussed  at  the  time. 

1  D.S.S.P.  CCLXXV.  146.  2  Supposed  date  of  play. 

3  D.S.S.P.  CCLXIV.  10.  See  ante,  p.  106.  4  Feb.  8th,  1600-1. 


xm]  THE  CONSPIRACY  189 

Essex  did  not  go  out  of  doors  that  day.  In  the  morning  he  had 
been  warned  that  there  was  a  plot  among  the  Jesuits  to  kill  him;  in 
the  afternoon  he  had  been  cautioned  by  a  friend  in  Court  that  on 
no  excuse  was  he  to  leave  the  house,  for  there  was  a  confederacy 
to  kill  him  either  as  he  went  or  returned.  In  the  evening  he  was 
summoned  by  Secretary  Herbert  to  come  before  the  Lords  at 
Whitehall.  He  had  been  freed  from  such  subordination  when  he 
had  been  allowed  to  go  to  the  country,  and  no  charge  had  been  laid 
against  him  since,  so  he  refused  to  go.  Many  men  slept  in  Essex 
House  that  night  who  had  not  intended  to  do  so.  For  things  had 
come  to  a  crisis:  Essex  was  in  a  worse  case  than  when  he  was  a 
prisoner,  for  then  his  life  at  least  was  protected.  The  morrow  was 
fixed  for  the  adventure,  but  even  then  few  knew  on  what  lines  it 
was  intended  that  it  should  move;  he  trusted  few  with  the  whole 
of  his  schemes;  one  examinate  incidentally  said  that  they  could 
not  trust  Rutland  for  more  than  two  hours  before  anything  was  to 
be  done. 

It  is  necessary  to  realise  their  actual  position  at  the  time,  and  not 
read  into  it  all  the  weighty  matters  which  have  been  since  imported 
into  it.  Essex  felt  himself  deeply  wronged.  He  attributed  all  his 
troubles  to  the  ill-will  of  those  courtiers  to  whom  the  Queen  listened, 
and  who  had  made  up  their  mind  that  the  only  safe  course  for  them 
was  to  prevent  her  from  seeing  theEarl  and  "hearing  the  other  side." 
He  knew  that  too,  and  it  was  in  order  to  circumvent  them  that  he 
desired  to  force  a  way  into  her  presence,  and  with  humble  rever- 
ence pour  forth  his  passionate  pleadings  at  her  feet.  He  knew  that 
he  could  move  her.  There  was  no  thought  of  treason,  as  we  under- 
stand it,  in  any  of  their  hearts.  Rather  was  it,  if  I  may  draw  a 
simple  parallel,  like  the  boys  of  a  great  public  school,  where  troubles 
had  arisen  through  some  of  the  bigger  boys  turning  tell-tales  on 
their  enemies  to  such  an  extent  that  the  head-master  refused  to 
hear  the  other  side,  or  to  see  them,  or  indeed  even  to  listen  to 
witnesses  for  them.  And  the  ostracised  boys,  feeling  hot  and 
injured,  agreed  to  force  their  way  into  their  master's  study,  and 
when  they  had  caught  his  eye,  and  he  had  realised  there  were  so 
many  of  them  discontented,  he  would  be  sure  to  hear  them,  and 
with  fair  play  all  would  be  well.  The  worst  that  could  happen  to 
them  would  be  expulsion.  So  they  would  plan  how  to  prevent 


190     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

janitors,  butlers,  and  tutors  from  interfering  in  what  they  thought 
their  righteous  plan  of  self-defence. 

In  some  such  way  Essex  sketched  his  little  plan  of  surprising  the 
Court,  a  very  similar  one  to  that  which  he  had  tried  on  September 
28th,  1599.  But  he  was  taking  followers  now.  Sir  Christopher 
Blount  was  to  guard  the  outer  gate,  Sir  John  Davies  the  hall,  Sir 
Charles  Danvers  the  presence  chamber,  and  the  Earls  of  Essex 
and  Southampton  alone  were  to  enter  the  privy  chamber. 

They  were  stirring  early  on  the  8th  if,  indeed,  any  had  slept  at 
all.  Evidently  Essex  had  originally  intended  to  make  his  attempt 
on  the  Court  before  divine  service  began.  But  some  friends,  ap- 
parently Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges  and  Sir  Charles  Danvers,  brought 
back  the  news  from  Court  that  alarm  had  been  taken  and  that  they 
had  doubled  their  forces.  Sir  Christopher  Blount  advised  Essex  first 
to  secure  his  friends  in  London;  Sir  Charles  Danvers  advised  him 
to  fly  to  the  sea-coast.  Hesitation  ensued.  An  interesting  MS.1 
rendering  of  the  story  of  that  8th  of  February  says  that  the  Queen, 
having,  of  course,  heard  of  the  preparations,  sent  about  9  o'clock 
to  Essex  House  Sir  Thomas  Egerton,  Lord  Keeper,  the  Earl  of 
Worcester,  Sir  William  Knollys,  and  the  Lord  Chief  Justice,  with  a 
message  that  Essex  should  dissolve  his  company  and  himself  speedily 
come  to  the  Court,  and  promising  that  his  griefs  should  be  graciously 
heard.  The  house  was  buzzing  as  if  it  were  a  hive  of  angry  bees 
when  they  knocked  at  the  gate.  They  were  suffered  to  enter,  but 
none  of  their  followers.  The  Earl  met  them  in  the  court,  which 
was  filled  with  men,  took  them  through  two  rooms  well  guarded; 
then  they  asked  him  to  speak  with  them  privately.  He  led  the  way 
to  his  study,  which  they  unsuspiciously  entered;  whereupon  he  told 
them  he  had  business  in  the  city  and  would  come  back  in  half  an 
hour.  He  turned  the  key  in  the  door,  put  them  in  charge  of  Sir 
John  Davies  and  Sir  Gelly  Meyrick,  bidding  that  faithful  adherent, 
if  he  loved  him,  not  to  let  them  go  before  his  return.  He  himself, 
with  the  Eafls  of  Rutland,  Bedford,  and  Southampton,  and  about 
60  followers,  went  out  and  turned  eastward  towards  Ludgate, 
calling  out  that  he  would  have  been  murdered  by  the  Lord  Cobham 
and  Sir  Walter  Raleigh.  The  gates  were  shut;  but  they  opened  for 
them,  and  they  went  into  Cheapside  to  Sheriff  Smith's  house,  then 
1  Lent  me  by  Dr  Smedley.  10  o'clock  is  the  time  usually  given. 


xin]  THE  CONSPIRACY  191 

to  Gracechurch  Street,  where  they  had  some  parley  with  the 
mayor.  Their  numbers  had  now  risen  to  300,  and  thereupon  Lord 
Burleigh  was  sent  with  the  King  of  Heralds  to  proclaim  them 
traitors,  with  the  promise  of  £1000  reward  to  any  one  who  should 
take  Essex's  person,  and  of  pardon  to  all  who  should  forsake  him. 
Lord  Burleigh's  horse  was  hurt  under  him — "at  which  time  the 
Earl  of  Bedford  and  the  Lord  Cromwell  left  him  and  many  others." 
Seeing  his  company  lessened,  Essex  turned  to  Ludgate  again,  in- 
tending to  pass  to  his  house1.  But  the  Bishop  of  London  and  Sir 
John  Leveson  had  put  up  the  chain  there,  under  St  Paul's,  and  there 
was  a  body  of  pikemen  drawn  up  to  withstand  them.  There  Sir 
Christopher  Blount  (the  unlucky)  was  sorely  wounded  in  the  head 
and  Essex's  page  slain,  so  he  turned  and  went  to  the  water  and  took 
boats  to  Essex  House.  "  It  was  about  4  of  the  clocke  when  the 
Earl  came  to  Essex  House.  The  Lords  whom  he  had  left  there 
prisoners  were  by  a  happie  accident  delivered  by  Sir  Ferdinando 
Gorges  who,  as  it  seemeth,  in  policie  to  save  his  owne  life  came 
with  a  feigned  message  from  the  Erie  to  Sir  Gillie  Meyricke  and 
Sir  John  Davies  for  the  setting  of  them  at  libertie,  upon  which  they 
were  suffered  to  go  to  court  by  water,  taking  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges 
with  them."  They  must  by  this  time  have  been  badly  in  need  of 
food,  if  the  Countess  and  Lady  Rich  did  not  provide  for  them  when 
Sir  John  Davies  went  and  brought  them  down,  "to  pass  the  time 
more  quickly."  Half  an  hour  afterwards  Essex  returned,  foiled  in 
his  secondary  scheme,  to  go  with  the  Lords  to  the  Court 

The  postscript  to  Sir  Robert  Cecil's  letter  of  the  i  oth  to  Carew 
says,  "The  Commanders  of  our  little  army  were  the  Lord  Admiral, 
Lord  General;  Earl  of  Cumberland,  Lord  Lieutenant;  Lord 
Thomas,  Marshall;  Lord  Gray,  General  of  the  Horse;  Lord 
Burghley,  Colonel  General  of  the  foot."2  These  were  sent  to  Essex 
House,  the  Lord  Burleigh  on  the  street  side,  and  the  Lord  Admiral 
and  Sir  Robert  Sidney  on  the  water  side,  who  soon  had  taken  the 
garden;  Lord  Burleigh  had  broken  the  gate  and  entered  the  court,  in 
which  only  two  common  soldiers  were  slain3.  The  Earl  with  four  or 

1  Salisb.  Papers,  xi.  3. 

2  Camden  Series,  82,  p.  67. 

3  Egerton  MS.  2606.    Sir  Egerton  Brydges'  Life  of  Sir  Thomas  Egerton, 
p.  29. 


192     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

five  others  shewed  themselves  on  the  leads,  flourishing  their  swords, 
and  went  in  again.  They  had  fortified  the  doors  of  the  house  and 
set  books  in  the  windows,  which  made  shot  of  little  effect.  About 
9  o'clock  the  Admiral  sent  Sir  Robert  Sidney  to  summon  them  to 
yield,  a  parley  sounded,  and  the  Earl  of  Southampton  came  upon 
the  leads  and  replied,  "Dear  Cosen  Sidney  to  whom  would  you 
have  us  to  yield,  to  our  enemies?"  "Noe,"  said  Sir  Robert,  "You 
must  yeald  yourselves  to  her  Majestic."  "That  would  wee  will- 
inglie,"  answered  Southampton, "but  that  thereby  we  should  confess 
ourselves  gyltie,  before  we  had  offended,  yet  if  my  Lord  Admirall 
will  yeald  us  honorable  hostages  for  a  safe  returne  to  this  place, 
wee  will  goe,  and  present  ourselves  before  her  Majestic,  to  whom 
God  knows  wee  never  intended  the  least  harme  and  whose  royall 
disposition  we  know  to  be  such  that  if  wee  might  but  freely  declare 
our  mindes  before  her,  she  would  pardonne  us,  and  blame  them 
that  are  most  blameworthy,  those  Atheists  and  Caterpillers,  I  meane, 
that  laid  plottes  to  bereave  us  of  our  lives,  for  safeguard  whereof  as 
the  lawe  of  nature  willeth  us,  wee  have  taken  up  these  armes 
though  wee  both  doe  and  will  acknowledge  our  dutie  and  obedience 
to  her  Majestic  to  our  lives'  end,  for  is  it  likelie  that  wee  who  have 
so  often  ventured  our  lives  in  defence  of  her  Majestic  and  this 
Realme  should  now  prove  traitors  to  the  Queen  and  state?  Noe, 
Noe,  Cosen  we  detest  that  name,  and  all  traitorous  actions."  "My 
Lord,  you  must  not  capitulate  with  your  prince,  and  knowe  that  my 
Lord  Admirall  will  not  yeald  to  any  such  conditions  of  hostages." 
"Good  cosen,  I  doe  not  capitulate  with  my  prince,  I  doe  but 
expostulate  with  you.  You  are  a  man  of  armes  and  knowe  well 
what  belongs  thereto,  you  know  we  are  bound  by  nature  to  defend 
ourselves  against  our  equals,  much  more  against  our  inferiors.  And 
cosen,  you  cannot  but  knowe,  or  at  least  wiselie  conjecture,  that  if 
wee  shall  yeald  ourselves,  we  shall  willinglie  put  ourselves  into  the 
wolves'  mouthe,  I  meane  these  hands  who  will  keepe  us  farre  enough 
from  coming  to  her  Majestic  to  speak  for  ourselves,  or  if  that  were 
admitted  us,  yett  coming  before  her  as  captives,  theire  lyes  through 
the  greatnes  of  her  favor  towards  them  overballance  our  truthes. 
Then  good  cosen  Sidney  what  would  you  doe  if  you  were  in  our 
case?"  "  Good  my  Lord, put  noe  such  questions.  I  hold  you  are  best 
to  yeald,  for  you  knowe  this  house  is  of  no  such  force  as  yt  can  longe 


xm]  THE  CONSPIRACY  193 

preserve  you  and  my  Lorde  Admirall  hath  already  sent  for  powder 
and  ordnance  for  battery,  and  if  that  will  not  prevaile  he  is  purposed 
to  blowe  it  up,  and  then  there  is  but  one  waie  with  you."  "Let 
his  Lordship  doe  his  pleasure,  wee  purpose  not  to  yield  without 
hostages,  for  will  rather  make  choice  to  dye  like  men  with  our 
swords  in  our  hands,  then  goe  ten  days  hence  to  end  our  lives  upon 
a  scaffold."  "By  standing  out  there  is  noe  hope,  but  by  yealding 
there  is  some  hope  offered  you."  "Well  Cosen,  that  hope  is  so 
little  that  without  hostages,  we  will  rather  make  choice  of  this  noe 
hope  then  of  that  hope."  And  at  these  words  came  the  Earl  of 
Essex  to  Southampton  and  said  to  Sir  Robert  and  the  people,  "Good 
brother  Sidney,  and  you  my  loving  countrymen,  nothing  doth  so 
much  grieve  me  as  that  you  who  my  conscience  tells  me  doe  all 
love  me,  and  for  whose  safetie  I  have  so  often  exposed  myself  to 
perill,  that  you,  my  friends  whose  least  drop  of  blood  would  greatlie 
perplex  me,  should  be  made  agents  in  this  quarrell  against  mee,  who 
would  rather  flinge  myselfe  headlonge  from  hence  then  you  should 
be  endangered,  and  that  those  Atheists  my  enemies  keepe  aloofe  off 
from  perill  and  dare  not  once  aproache  me,  in  fighting  against  whom, 
if  I  might  but  end  my  life,  I  would  thinke  my  death  most  honorable 
yf  by  my  death  I  might  lykewyse  end  their  lives,  and  that  I  had 
done  God,  my  prince,  and  my  contry  good  service  by  rooting  out 
such  Atheists  and  Caterpillers  from  the  earth." 

Sidney.  "I  hope  my  Lord  you  doe  not  mean  my  Lord  Ad- 
mirall?" 

Essex.  "Noe,  God  knowes  I  have  ever  taken  him  to  be  as 
honorable  in  minde  as  he  is  by  birthe,  though  there  hath  bene 
some  publique  jarres  amongst  us,  which  I  knowe,  on  his  parte  came 
by  others'  provocations,  rather  than  anie  waie  by  his  own  disposition; 
but  I  mean  men  of  more  base  condition,  though  in  greater  favour 
with  her  Majestic,  who  have  laid  secret  plotts  and  damnable  devyces 
to  bereave  me  of  my  liffe,  from  which  purpose  my  conscience  tells 
me  my  Lord  is  free.  Yet  good  brother,  excuse  me  if  I  yeald  not, 
for  I  will  stand  to  my  Lord  of  Southampton's  resolution.  As  for 
my  liffe,  I  hate  it,  I  have  lothed  to  live  anie  tyme  this  twelvemonth 
and  more,  and  I  have  thought  it  one  of  the  greatest  punishments 
that  ever  God  laid  uppon  me  to  scape  that  sickness  which  then 
attacked  me,  for  judge  you,  brother,  whether  it  be  a  griefe  or  noe 
s.  s.  13 


194     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

for  a  man  discended  as  I  am  to  have  lived  in  accord  and  of  estimacion 
that  I  have  done,  to  be  pinned  up  for  long  together,  to  be  trodden 
underfoote  by  so  base  upstarts,  yea,  and  more,  that  to  have  my  liffe 
so  nearlie  sought  by  them?  Would  it  not  trouble  you?  Yes  I  know 
it  would.  Well  it  is  no  matter,  deathe  will  end  all,  and  sithe  I  must 
die  and  they  enioye  their  wishes,  I  will  dye  so  honorablie  as  I  maie, 
and  soe  good  brother  enforme  my  Lord  Admiral." 

"Well,  my  Lord,  I  will  returne  your  answere  to  his  Lordship." 
The  Lord  Admiral  would  not  hear  of  hostages  to  rebels,  but  sent 
Sir  Robert  again,  who  told  Southampton  that  the  Lord  Admiral 
understood  that  the  ladies  and  gentlewomen  were  in  the  house,  and 
that  he  would  delay  in  order  that  they  should  be  sent  forth,  and  they 
should  be  safely  and  honorably  conveyed  to  any  place  they  pleased. 
Southampton  thanked  the  Lord  Admiral,  "but  we  desire  him  to 
pardon  us  if  we  prefer  our  safetie  before  their  freedom.   We  have 
now  fortified  our  doors,  which  stood  us  in  a  good  whiles  work;  if 
we  should  unfortifye  them  to  sett  our  ladies  forth,  we  shall  make 
an  open  passage  for  your  forces  to  enter.   Yet  if  the  Lord  Admiral 
would  grant  us  an  hour's  space  to  open  the  passage  for  our  ladies, 
and  another  hour  when  they  are  gone  to  make  it  good  againe,  we 
will  willinglie  suffer  our  ladies  to  depart."    To  this  the  Admiral 
agreed,  and  it  was  about  9  o'clock.   Great  store  of  powder,  shot,  and 
ordnance  had  come  from  the  Tower.    This  made  them  prefer  to 
take  some  of  their  time  in  consultation;  they  would  then  realise 
that  they  were  not  determining  a  death  glorious  for  themselves, 
but  preparing  one  for  many  followers  who  were  willing  to  fight, 
but  not  willing  to  die  for  them  in  that  manner.    Doubtless  Lady 
Rich  had  a  word  of  common-sense  to  say,  and  Lady  Essex  would 
tearfully  wish  them  to  seize  the  little  hope,  rather  than  accept 
the  "no  hope"  terms.  So  "they  came  forthe  again  upon  the  leads 
and  the  Earl  tould  Sir  Robert  they  would  yeald  upon  these  con- 
ditions,  first  that   they   might  be   used  as  honorable  prisoners; 
secondlie  that  the  Lord  Admirall  should  make  faithfull  relation 
to  her  Majestic  of  what  they  should  say  for  themselves  in  their 
own  defence;   thirdly  that  they  should  have  an  honorable  trial; 
and  lastly  during  their  imprisonment  they  should  have  divines  to 
instruct  them  in  matters  of  religion."  To  this  the  Lord  Admiral 
agreed,  whereupon  they  went  down,  opened  their  doors,  and  each 


P  THE  CONSPIRACY  195 

of  them  upon  their  knees  delivered  up  his  sword.  The  Earl  of  Essex 
desired  the  Admiral  to  request  her  Majesty  to  inflict  all  her  punish- 
ments upon  him,  and  that  the  punishment  of  the  rest  might  be 
diminished,  who  had  entered  into  that  accord  with  him  some  for 
friendship,  some  for  kindness,  some  for  affection,  and  some  as 
servants  to  their  lord.  "And  the  Earl  of  Southampton  requested 
that  things  doubtfully  said  or  donne  might  be  construed  to  the  best, 
which  the  Lord  Admirall  said  should  be  done.  Soe  they  went  to 
their  several  places  of  imprisonment." 

I  could  not  omit  much  from  this  narrative;  the  tragical  picture 
haunts  the  imagination.  The  Strand,  St  Clement  Danes,  Essex 
House  lit  up  by  the  lurid  light  of  smoky  torches — for  it  was  the  dark 
night  of  a  gloomy  February  day;  a  seething  flood  of  men  around, 
silent  and  spell-bound,  and  the  slight  figures  of  the  doomed  men, 
against  the  smoky  light,  first  standing  on  the  leads,  then  coming 
down  to  yield  all  that  life  holds  dear;  and  the  group  of  tear-stained 
ladies  in  the  hall  seeing  them  depart.  Perhaps  after  all  the  ladies 
did  not  leave  the  house  that  night.  If  they  did,  it  would  probably 
be  to  go  to  Walsingham  House,  where  Lady  Essex's  loving 
mother  tearfully  waited.  One  part  of  the  Lord  Admiral's  promise 
was  not  kept.  Lady  Rich  was  not  allowed  to  go  whither  she 
would;  she  was  taken  prisoner  and  sent  to  the  care  of  Mr  Sackford. 
She  had  been  helping  her  brother  all  day. 

There  is  no  record  of  either  Countess  of  Southampton.  The 
elder  one  was  still  at  the  Savoy,  and  I  believe  that  Elizabeth 
Vernon  had  been  purposely  taken  down  by  her  husband  to 
Itchell  and  left  there  with  her  child,  to  keep  her  out  of  the  way, 
while  he  did  a  little  bit  of  business  in  town,  which  completed,  he 
expected  he  would  return  to  his  family. 

The  so-called  "Rebellion"  was  crushed,  the  Queen  slept1,  and 
probably  far  away  from  London  Elizabeth  Vernon  also  slept, 
unwitting  of  the  disturbances  in  which  her  husband  was  engaged. 
The  undated  and  unaddressed  letter  that  he  wrote  to  her  would 
seem  to  have  been  written  that  night  by  him,  trying,  in  order  to 
comfort  her,  to  minimise  his  danger.  This,  written  under  such 
tragic  conditions,  is  the  only  one  of  his  love-letters  which  has 
come  down  to  us  (though  undelivered  then),  through  Cecil. 
1  She  had  said  she  would  not  go  to  sleep  till  they  were  secured. 

13—2 


196     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

Sweetheart,  I  doubt  not  but  you  shall  hear  ere  my  letter  come  to  you  of 
the  misfortune  of  your  friends.  Be  not  too  apprehensive  of  it,  for  God's 
will  must  be  done,  and  what  is  allotted  to  us  by  destiny  cannot  be  avoided. 
Believe  that  in  this  time  there  is  nothing  that  can  so  much  comfort  me,  as 
to  think  that  you  are  well,  and  take  patiently  what  hath  happened,  and 
contrariwise  I  shall  live  in  torment  if  I  find  you  vexed  for  my  cause.  Doubt 
not  but  that  I  shall  do  well,  and  please  yourself  with  the  assurance  that  I 
shall  ever  remain  your  affectionate  husband1. 

The  letter  is  addressed  only  "To  my  Bess,"  and  is  endorsed 
"My  Lord  of  Southampton  to  his  Lady." 

Sometime  within  the  next  few  days  that  poor  lady  wrote  to 
Cecil: 

Fear  to  have  my  doings  misconstrued  hath  hitherto  made  me  forbear  to 
shew  the  duty  of  a  wife  in  this  miserable  distress  of  my  unfortunate  husband. 
Longer  I  could  not,  and  live,  suffer  the  sorrow  sustained  in  the  place  where 
I  was,  in  not  shewing  some  effects  of  my  infinite  and  faithful  love  unto  him, 
therefore  have  I  adventured  hither,  having  no  other  meaning  but  prayers  to 
God,  and  umble  petitions  to  His  holy  anointed,  prostrate  at  her  feet  if  it 
might  be  to  beg  some  favour,  and  by  unfolding  this  my  simple  intention  to 
obtain  your  good  opinion  of  allowance  that  my  doing  be  not  mistaken;  but 
may  move  you  to  pity  me,  the  most  miserable  woman  in  the  world,  by  my 
Lord's  miserable  state. 

And  in  that,  through  the  heavy  disfavour  of  her  sacred  majesty  unto 
myself,  I  am  utterly  barred  from  all  means  to  perform  those  duties  and  good 
to  him  I  ought  to  do,  this  being  of  all  others  my  cross  the  most  heavy,  easily 
in  your  wisdom  can  you  look  into  my  woeful  condition,  which,  if  you  be 
pleased  to  do  I  doubt  not  but  you  will  pity  me,  and  allow  of  this  I  do2. 

"In  twelve  hours'  time  was  this  commotion  suppressed"  says 
Camden.  The  great  leader  who  had  hitherto  always  led  his  followers 
to  victory  was  at  last  defeated  by  fate.  Unwillingly  he  yielded,  to 
save  the  lives  of  others,  and  to  let  her  Majesty  go  to  sleep.  The 
two  chief  prisoners  were  taken  by  the  Admiral  to  the  Archbishop's 
Palace  at  Lambeth,  because  the  night  was  dark  and  the  river  not 
passable  under  the  bridge.  Thence,  by  the  Queen's  command,  they 
were  shortly  afterwards  carried  to  the  Tower3  by  water;  some  of 

1  Cecil  Papers,  CLXXXIII.  21. 

2  Ibid.  LXXXIV.  12,  also  Salisb.  Papers,  xi.  70,  dated  c.  igth  February 
but  it  must  have  been  earlier. 

3  D.S.S.P.  CCLXXVIII.  31,  34,  35,  38,  39,  43,  44.    Their  rooms  were  not 
comfortably  furnished  till  two  days  later.    Salisb.  Papers,  xi.  39.   Belvoir 
Papers,  xiv.  Feb.  gth. 


xm]  THE  CONSPIRACY  197 

the  others  followed — "The  Earl  of  Rutland,  Lord  Sandys,  Lord 
Cromwell,  Lord  Mounteagle,  Sir  Christopher  Blunt,  Sir  Charles 
Danvers."  "The  Earl  of  Sussex  was  committed  on  suspicion  to 
Sir  John  Stanhope's  house;  the  Earl  of  Bedford  committed -on 
suspicion  to  the  Alderman  Holliday  of  London.  He  was  afterwards 
taken  to  Sir  John  Stanhope's;  and  Lady  Rich  to  Mr  Sackford's." 

Another  list  gives  28  in  the  Compter,  Poultry,  the  chief  of 
whom  are  "Sir  Francis  Smith,  John  Arden,  Thomas  Cundell, 
Francis  Manners,  Sir  William  Constable,  John  Vernon,  Gregory 
Sheffield.  In  Wood  Street  Sir  Thomas  West  anil  others.  In  the 
Lord  Mayor's  house  Sir  Henry  Carew,  Sir  Henry  Parker,  Sir 
Charles  Percy,  Sir  Joscelyne  Percy,  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges.  In 
Sheriff  Gamble's  house  Sir  Robert  Catesby,  Sir  John  Littleton. 
In  the  house  of  one  Holland,  at  Paul's  Chain,  Sir  Christopher 
Blunt." 

Many  others  follow:  Edward  Bushell,  Sir  Gelly  Meyrick, 
Sir  Christopher  Heydon,  Sir  John  Heydon,  Sir  John  Davies, 
Sir  Henry  Linley,  Sir  Robert  Vernon,  Sir  Edward  Bainham, 
Henry  Cuffe,  Charles  Ogle,  etc. 

Another  list  appears  among  the  Conway  papers. 

Another  list  of  100  includes  "Lady  Rich  at  Mr  Sackford's,  the 
Earl  of  Bedford  at  Sir  John  Stanhope's."  "  Dr  Fletcher,  committed 
to  Alderman  Lowine,  Dr  Hawkins  committed  to  Alderman  Lee."1 

Captain  Owen  Salisbury,  an  enthusiastic  follower  of  Essex,  when 
he  saw  that  hope  was  fled  had  courted  death  by  standing  as  a  mark 
in  a  window.  He  is  said  to  have  been  killed  by  a  shot  from  the 
steeple  of  St  Clement  Danes  Church.  An  entry  can  still  be 
seen  in  the  Register  of  the  church:  "Owin  Salisbury,  Captain, 

slain  within  Essex  Gallery,  and  James footman  to  the  Earl 

of  Southampton,  who  both  were  buryed  at  night  the  i  oth  February 
1600." 

The  proclamation  of  the  earls  as  traitors  was  suspiciously 
prompt.  It  was  read  on  Sunday,  printed  on  Monday,  published 
on  Tuesday. 

Cecil  had  already  made  up  his  mind.  He  immediately  empowered 
the  Deputy  Lieutenants  to  instruct  the  people  to  arm  in  defence, 
Essex  and  his  confederates  having  taken  up  arms  against  the  Queen. 
1  Salisb.  Papers,  xi.  34. 


198     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

His  letter  to  Sir  George  Carew  with  the  Proclamation  on  the  i  oth 
of  February,  from  Whitehall,  runs:  "Because  I  am  not  ignorant 
that  greatest  accidents  are  most  liable  to  be  misreported...!  have 
thought  it  very  fit  to  acquaint  you  with  a  most  dangerous  attempt 
which  hath  happened  on  Sunday  last,  wherein  both  her  Majesty's 
own  person  and  the  usurpation  of  this  kingdom  was  openly  shot  at x. 
By  this  Proclamation  the  proceedings  of  the  Earl  of  Essex  will 
appear,  and  therefore .  I  shall  onely  need  say  this  unto  you,  that  I 
thinke  by  that  tyme  my  letters  shall  come  unto  you,  both  he  and 
the  Erie  of  Southampton,  with  some  others  of  the  principals,  shall 

have  lost  their  heads If  the  Queen  had  not  put  herself  in  strength 

that  morning  and  barricaded  Charing  Cross,  and  the  other  back 
parts  of  Westminster,  their  resolution  was  to  have  been  in  court 
at  noon."2  Official  letters  were  likewise  sent  to  all  ambassadors. 
"The  long  Proclamation"  mentioned  could  hardly  have  been 
exactly  the  same  as  that  read  to  the  people  on  Sunday  morning, 
copies  of  which  are  preserved  in  the  British  Museum. 

There  was  a  busy  week  of  examinations  and  depositions,  during 
which  all  other  legal  business  came  to  a  standstill. 

A  curious  little  side-light  is  thrown  on  the  case  by  a  paper 
among  Stratford-on-Avon  Records.  The  town  had  a  suit  against 
Sir  Edward  Greville,  who  claimed  certain  rights  as  Lord  of  the 
Manor.  John  Shakespeare  was  mentioned  among  those  who  helped 
to  draw  up  the  case  (the  last  public  duty  he  did);  Richard  Queeney 
and  Thomas  Greene  went  up  to  London  to  take  counsel  on  it. 
Among  the  town  expenses  for  January  and  February  1600-1 
appears:  "Given  to  one  of  Mr  Cooke  hys  clerkes,  and  his  door- 
keeper, that  we  might  have  accesse  to  their  master  for  his  councill, 
upon  whom  the  said  Clerk,  Mr  Green  and  myself  did  often  attend, 
and  Mr  Morgan,  Mr  Greene  and  myself  3  dayes  together,  but 
could  not  have  him  at  leisure,  because  of  these  troubles. 

For  privy  scale,  and  other  expenses  together  38*.  4^."3 

The  indictments  were  sent  out  on  Saturday  the  1 4th. 

Besides  the  general  charges,  printed  in  every  history  of  the  period,, 
the  examinations  yielded  many  little  biographical  details.  Edward 
Whitelock  called  for  the  Earl  of  Rutland  about  9  o'clock  on  8th 

1  Camden  Series,  82,  p.  65.  3  Ibid.  p.  66 

3  Strut.  Misc.  Doc.  v.  148. 


xm]  THE  CONSPIRACY  199 

February  to  go  to  Court,  but  found  that  he  had  gone  out  at  6  to 
the  Earl  of  Southampton's  lodgings;  he  followed  him,  but  found 
that  Rutland  had  gone  thence  to  Essex  House,  where  Whitelock 
sought  him,  and  went  out  with  the  Earl  and  other  gentlemen1. 

William  Reynolds  (probably  brother  of  Essex's  secretary,  Edward 
Reynolds)  on  February  i3th  "marvelled  what  had  become  of  Piers 
Edmonds,  the  Earl  of  Essex's  man,  born  in  the  Strand  near  me, 
who  had  many  preferments  by  the  Earl.  His  villainy  I  have  often 
complained  of.  He  was  Corporal  General  of  the  Horse  in  Ireland 
under  the  Earl  of  Southampton.  He  ate  and  drank  at  his  table  and 
lay  in  his  tent.  The  Earl  of  Southampton  caressed  him,  and  gave 
him  privileges2." 

Piers  Edmonds  wrote  to  Mr  Wade  in  February  1600-1.  He  had 
spent  20  years  in  the  Queen's  service.  For  his  old  hurts  received  in 
that  service  bursting  out  afresh,  he  was  enforced  to  come  to  London 
for  remedy  but  "two  days  before  that  dismal  day,"  by  which 
mischance,  being  among  his  Lordship's  people  innocently,  he  stands 
in  the  like  danger  they  do.  He  asks  Mr  Wade's  advice  whether 
he  should  give  himself  up,  or  wait  for  the  general  pardon3. 

John  Bird  speaks  of  John  Barlow,  "an  Esquire  of  a  thousand 
pounds  in  land,  a  noted  recusant,  near  Milford  Haven,"  whose 
power  was  sufficient  to  prevent  the  serving  of  indictments4.  His 
son  and  heir,  George  Barlow,  had  married  one  of  the  Vernons, 
a  cousin  to  the  Earl  of  Essex  and  sister  to  the  Countess  of  South- 
ampton. 

"Sir  George  Devereux,  uncle  to  the  Earl  of  Essex,  came  and 
stayed  with  him  at  Christmas  and  lives  with  his  father  all  in  one 
house." 

Sir  John  Davies  (Surveyor  of  the  Ordnance  in  the  Tower) 
wrote  to  Robert  Cecil  on  March  2nd: 

I  know  that  it  is  the  course  of  men  in  misery  to  make  protestations  of  their 
affections.  But  if  you  will  consider  from  whom  this  cometh,  it  will  work  no 
doubt  better  effect,  in  your  noble  heart.  If  I  knew  of  the  least  hurt  intended 
to  her  Majesty,  let  me  be  made  an  example  to  all  ages.  If  I  were  true  to 
him  whom  I  once  served,  and  from  whom  I  received  all  my  advancement, 

1  Salisb.  Papers,  xi.  40. 

*  Ibid.  xi.  48,  93.  Cecil  Papers,  LXXXIII.  62. 

*  Salisb.  Papers,  xi.  99.   Cecil  Papers,  xc.  76. 

4  Salisb.  Papers,  xi.  92.   Cecil  Papers,  LXXXIII.  54. 


200     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

it  is  a  good  consequent  that  I  will  ever  be  true  to  you....!  pray  that  either 
my  Lord  Harry  Howard,  my  Lord  Gray  or  Mr  Fulke  Greville  may  hear 
my  overtures.  I  humbly  beseech  your  Honour  to  command  my  bolts  to  be 
taken  off,  which  have  almost  lamed  me  already1. 

On  the  same  date  there  is  another  letter,  entreating  that 
he  should  not  be  brought  to  trial.  He  will  give  up  his  wardship 
or  anything;  let  them  consider  "how  much  any  further  disgrace 
will  disable  and  deject  a  spirit  of  a  modest  carriage  and  never 
before  tempted." 

The  Earl  of  Bedford  on  February  I4th2  said  that  he  had  only 
spoken  once  with  the  Earl  of  Essex  since  he  had  his  liberty.  He 
was  preparing  to  serve  God  about  I  o  o'clock  on  the  8th  when  Lady 
Rich  came  to  his  house  and  desired  to  speak  with  him.  She  said 
her  brother  had  need  of  him,  and  he  went  to  Essex  House  in  her 
coach  about  1 1 .  The  Earl  of  Essex  went  to  a  secret  conference  to 
which  he  (Bedford)  was  not  invited.  When  the  Lords  went  out 
he  followed  them,  but  escaped  at  the  earliest  opportunity. 

Captain  Thomas  Lea  said  that  since  Christmas  "there  had  been 
many  secret  meetings  in  Lord  Mountjoy's  house  in  Holborn,"3 
but,  however  he  might  sympathise,  his  Lordship  was  safely  away 
in  the  bogs  of  Ireland,  carrying  out  the  policy  that  Essex  had 
planned  to  pacify  it.  The  prosecutors  did  not  want  him  to  stop  his 
work,  and  they  turned  their  blind  eye  in  his  direction.  Cuffe4  said 
that  he  had  seen  Lord  Essex  destroy  a  book  of  his  own  writing, 
being  the  story  of  his  troubles,  and  wished  he  had  not  done  so. 
(This  was  the  real  book  that  was  imitated  by  other  people  and 
misnamed  his  Apology^  which  his  enemies  used  against  him.) 

Sir  William  Constable  dined  at  Gunter's  and  went  to  the  Globe. 
He  said  "Owen  Salisbury,  espying  Mr  Bacon  passing  by,  said 
'There  is  one  of  them;  let  us  pull  him  in,  to  be  doing  withall.'"5 

Bushell  said  "There  supped  at  Essex  House  on  the  yth  Lord 
Southampton,  Sir  Christopher  Blunt,  Sir  Charles  Danvers,  Lady 
Rich,  Robert  Vernon."6 

Lord  Sandys  of  Sherburn  (Cowdray,  Co.  Southampton),  held 
out  till  the  last,  but  confessed  that  he  saw  Essex  burn  papers,  "to 
tell  no  tales  to  hurt  his  private  friends."7 

1  Salisb.  Papers,  xi.  101.   Cecil  Papers,  LXXVII,  21. 

2  Salisb.  Papers,  xi.  50.  s  D.S.S.P.  CCLXXVIII.  61. 

*  Ibid.  70.  5  Ibid.  72.  •  Ibid.  69.  7  Ibid.  75. 


xmj  THE  CONSPIRACY  201 

Christopher  Blount1  does  not  contribute  much  that  others  did 
not  tell  to  the  story  of  the  action  on  February  8th;  but  he  mentions 
one  fact  which  no  one  else  knew — that  in  Dublin,  when  he  lay 
wounded  in  the  Castle  in  a  chamber  that  had  once  been  the  Earl 
of  Southampton's,  the  Earl  of  Essex  came  to  him  (no  one  else 
being  present  but  the  Earl  of  Southampton),  and  asked  their  advice 
whether  he  should  take  over  with  him  on  his  return  2000  or  3000 
soldiers  to  secure  his  access  to  the  Queen  the  more  easily.  They 
both  advised  him  against  that  plan,  and  therefore  he  came  but 
poorly  attended  at  Michaelmas  1599. 

Sir  Gelly  Meyrick  on  Saturday  dined  with  the  others  at  Gunter's, 
and  a  party  of  them,  on  Sir  Charles  Percy's  motion,  afterwards 
went  all  together  to  the  Globe,  where  the  Lord  Chamberlain's 
men  used  to  play,  and  were  there  somewhat  before  the  play  began, 
Percy  telling  them  that  the  play  would  be  of  Henry  IV,  and  the 
killing  of  Richard  II.  He  could  not  tell  who  procured  the  play, 
but  thinks  it  was  Percy.  He  himself  did  not  arrive  until  after  the 
play  began2. 

Sir  John  Leveson  declared  how  he  defended  St  Paul's  Chain3. 

Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges,  on  the  Tuesday  before  the  rising,  was 
summoned  to  Drury  House,  and  was  told  their  plans.  He  could 
not  see  how  they  meant  to  work  it.  Sir  John  Davies  took  ink  and 
paper,  and  began  to  make  a  plan  as  to  how  they  meant  to  dispose 
of  their  men.  When  he  saw  what  they  led  to,  he  went  back  and 
released  the  Lords.  Gorges  said  he  utterly  misliked  it,  because  of 
the  horror  as  well  as  the  impossibility  of  the  thing.  At  Drury 
House  he  would  not  agree  to  that  course,  whereupon  Southampton 
in  a  rise  of  passion  demanded,  "Shall  we  resolve  upon  nothing  then  ? " 
Davies  said,  "Let  him  have  his  friends  well  placed  in  the  city,"  but 
they  resolved  upon  nothing,  and  left  all  to  Lord  Essex4. 

Augustine  Phillipps  on  February  i8th  on  his  oath  said:  "On 
Friday  last  was  a  sennight  Sir  Charles  and  Sir  Joscelyn  Percy,  Lord 
Monteagle  and  others  spoke  to'some  of  the  players  in  his  presence, 
to  have  the  play  of  the  deposing  and  killing  of  Richard  II  on 
Saturday.  They  thought  it  too  old  a  play  to  fetch  an  audience, 

1  D.S.S.P.  CCLXXVIII.  77.  *  Ibid.  78. 

*  Salisb.  Papers,  xi.  59. 

*  D.S.S.P.  CCLXXVIII.  84.   Salisb.  Papers,  xi.  69. 


202     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

but  Sir  Charles  Percy  offered  them  40^.  beyond  their  profits,  so 
they  agreed  to  play  it,  and  had  their  forty  shillings."1  (It 
may  be  noted  that  this  deposition  is  signed  with  a  very  good 
signature.) 

Sir  Christopher  Blount  further  remembered  that  on  2Oth 
January,  when  sending  letters  of  compliment  to  his  wife,  the  Earl 
of  Essex  asked  him  to  come  up  to  town  soon  to  settle  affairs2. 
(Blount's  wife,  it  may  be  remembered,  was  the  Countess  of  Essex, 
the  mother  of  the  present  Earl,  and  afterwards  Countess  of  Leicester; 
she  married  Blount  in  July  1589.)  He  did  not  advise  the  surprising 
of  the  Court,  because  Gorges  had  assured  him  the  guard  was. 
doubled.  He  did  not  like  to  put  the  Queen  in  fear,  though  Essex 
was  a  man  not  disposed  to  shed  blood.  He  acknowledged  that  the 
Earl  had  said  to  him  that  if  he  came  to  authority  he  should  have 
toleration,  for  he  liked  not  that  any  man  should  be  troubled  for 
his  religion.  Blount  also  reminded  his  examiners  that  he  had 
served  the  Queen  for  many  years,  and  that  he  had  laid  open  the 
way  of  the  Earl  of  Leicester  and  Mr  Secretary  Walsingham  to 
discover  the  practices  of  the  Queen  of  Scots.  If  the  Queen  knew 
his  clear  heart  towards  her,  she  would  never  take  his  life. 

Sir  Charles  Danvers  was  the  last  to  yield  and  confess.  But  when 
they  shewed  him  the  signed  depositions  of  the  others  he  disburdened 
himself3.  When  he  came  back  from  the  Court  on  Saturday  morning, 
finding  there  would  be  resistance,  he  advised  Essex  to  give  up  the 
notion  and  fly  to  Wales.  He  came  to  London  about  a  month 
after  Essex  had  been  put  in  the  Lord  Keeper's  care.  Southampton 
and  Mount) oy,  to  whom  Essex  had  committed  the  care  of  his 
fortunes,  advised  him  then  to  go  to  the  continent,  and  they  would 
go  with  him.  Ireland  was  forced  on  Mountjoy;  Harry  Lea  was 
sent  to  the  Scotch  King,  to  say  that  they  looked  to  him  as  suc- 
cessor. Southampton  and  he  were  willing  to  risk  their  lives  for 
Essex,  but  not  Mountjoy. 

Sir  Henry  Neville  had  prepared  to  return  to  France  as  am- 
bassador,'but  was  arrested  on  the  way  for  complicity  with  Essex 
and  taken  to  the  Tower.  He  had  been  somewhat  unwillingly  made 

1  D.S.S.P.  CCLXXVIII.  85. 

2  Cecil  Papers,  LXXXIII.  32,  printed  Camden  Series,  78,  Appendix. 

3  Birch's  Mem.  II.  470.   D.S.S.P.  CCLXXVIII.  89. 


xin]  THE  CONSPIRACY  203 

cognizant  of  the  designs  of  the  discontented  ones,  and  in  his 
examination1  said  that  he  had  not  seen  Lord  Essex,  but  had  seen 
Cuffe,  who  desired  him  to  come  and  consult  with  the  Earl  of 
Southampton  and  Sir  Charles  Danvers  at  Drury  House.  On 
Monday,  Candlemas  Day,  at  four  of  the  clock,  on  coming  out  of 
Sergeant's  Inn  he  saw  a  coach  pass  by,  containing  the  Earls  of 
Essex  and  Southampton,  Sir  Christopher  Blount,  and  Sir  Charles 
Danvers.  As  they  had  seen  him,  he  thought  it  wise  to  pay  his  long 
promised  visit,  so  he  shortly  afterwards  went  to  Drury  House, 
where  he  found  the  Earl  of  Southampton  and  Sir  Charles  Danvers. 
"There,  after  some  ordinary  salutations,  because  I  had  never  spoken 
with  my  Lord  of  Southampton  since  he  was  a  child  in  my  old 
Lord  Treasurer's  House,  my  Lord  began  to  break  to  me  their 
plans."  He  misliked  them,  and  had  had  no  further  communication. 
He  saw  now  that  he  should  have  given  information. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  here  what  the  Venetian  ambassador  said 
two  years  afterwards:  "It  has  now  been  discovered  that  the  whole 
action  of  the  Earl  of  Essex  was  based  on  a  document  signed  by  six 
conspirators.  This  contained  only  two  points,  first  that  there  was 
to  be  a  rising  in  which  Secretary  Cecil  and  Councillor  Raleigh 
were  to  be  killed,  as  the  cause  of  the  Earl  of  Essex's  disgrace,  and 
second  that  they  were  immediately  to  cry  'Long  live  the  Queen 
and  after  her  long  live  King  James  of  Scotland,  the  sole  and  rightful 
heir  to  the  English  Crown '...a  declaration  which  the  Queen  had 
always  refused  to  make."2  (Indeed  any  discussion  of  the  succession 
she  had  threatened  to  proclaim  an  act  of  treason.) 

Among  the  speeches  at  the  Star  Chamber  on  the  1 3th  February, 
Sir  Robert  Cecil  stated  that  for  five  or  six  years  before  the  Earl 
had  been  working  to  become  King  of  England. 

Lord  Dudley3  said  to  Sir  Robert  Cecil  that  it  was  vulgarly  re- 
ported last  summer  that  Mr  John  Littleton  was  in  the  Low 
Countries  and  that  (as  his  followers  gave  it  out)  by  commandment 
of  the  Privy  Council,  to  stay  the  quarrel  between  the  Earl  of 
Southampton  and  the  Lord  Grey.  He  was  sure  Littleton  was  in 
the  Essex  plot. 

1  Salisb.  Papers,  xi.  76,  88,  103.   D.S.S.P.  CCLXXVIII.  598. 

2  Venetian  Papers.  Ambassador's  letter  I5th  May,  1603. 
»  D.S.S.P.  CCLXXVIII.  85. 


204     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

The  Bishop  of  Winchester  told  Cecil  that  Mr  Richard  Gifford 
of  Somborne,  near  Winchester,  was  known  to  have  cleaned  his 
armour  on  the  8th.  "He  is  a  great  follower  of  the  Earl  of  South- 
ampton, and  his  two  cousins  now  at  home  with  him,  as  also  some  of 
his  brethren,  served  in  Ireland  under  the  said  Earl  of  Southampton 
and  were  very  kindly  used  by  him.  It  would  be  well  to  examine 
them."  He  had  written  to  the  mayor  and  justices  of  Winchester 
about  the  ammunition1. 

Winwood,  the  junior  ambassador  at  Paris,  waiting  for  the 
return  of  his  chief,  Sir  Henry  Neville,  wrote  to  him  on  iyth 
February: 

Yesterday,  being  at  the  Louvre,  the  King  took  me  aside  and  asked  me 
what  news  I  had  from  England.  I  told  him  I  had  not  lately  received  any. 
He  then  told  me  of  a  strange  commotion  which  should  lately  be  in  London 
(which  he  compared  to  the  Barricades  at  Paris),  intended  he  said  by  the 
Earls  of  Essex  and  Southampton,  followed  by  divers  Knights  and  other 
Quality,  to  the  number  of  2000.  I  asked  him  if  he  had  received  this  news 
from  his  Ambassador.  He  said  no,  but  by  M.  de  Rohan,  who  freshly  came 
out  of  England,  and  arrived  this  morning  in  post.  He  told  me  many  other 
particulars,  which.  I  take  no  pleasure  to  recite.  Your  Lordship  may  judge  of 
the  affliction  I  feel  of  that  I  know  and  the  fear  I  conceive  of  that  I  know 
not.  I  attend  hourly  to  hear  from  your  Lordship  so  far  to  be  informed  as 
in  your  Discretion  you  shall  think  the  knowledge  of  the  truth  to  be  available 
to  her  Majesty's  service.  These  men  here  sollace  the  remembrance  of  their 
kte  miseries  with  the  hopes  of  their  neighbours'  calamities,  and  speak  that 
which  my  heart  doth  break  to  think  of,  and  my  hand  trembles  to  put  down2. 

This  letter  never  reached  Sir  Henry  Neville,  and  Winwood  had 
no  reply,  except  the  formal  announcement,  until  Sir  Robert  Cecil 
wrote  to  him  on  yth  March,  "A  late  unhappy  accident  hath  thrown 
a  cloud  over  my  cousin  Sir  Henry  Neville's  fortunes."3 

A  letter  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  printed  among  the  Cecil  Papers 
and  dated  1600?,  printed  also  on  the  last  page  but  one  of  Murdin's 
State  Papers,  evidently  should  be  entered  here.  It  must  have  been 
written  between  the  gth  and  the  23rd  of  February  that  year,  or  it 
would  tell  even  more  against  the  writer's  character. 

I  am  not  wise  enough  to  give  you  advice,  but  if  you  take  it  for  a  good 
counsel  to  relent  towards  this  tyrant,  you  will  repent  it  when  it  shall  be 

1  D.S.S.P.  CCLXXVIII.  89.  *  Winwood,  Mem.  i.  294. 

8  Ibid.  299. 


xmj  THE  CONSPIRACY  205 

too  late.  His  malice  is  fixed,  and  will  not  evaporate  by  any  your  mild  courses, 
for  he  will  ascribe  the  alteration  to  her  Majesty's  pusillanimity  and  not  to 
your  good  nature,  knowing  that  you  work  but  upon  her  humour,  and  not 
out  of  any  love  towards  him.  The  less  you  make  him,  the  less  he  shall 
be  able  to  harm  you  and  yours,  and  if  her  Majesty's  favour  fail  him,  he  will 
again  decline  to  a  common  person.  For  after  revenges,  fear  them  not;  for 
your  own  father  that  was  esteemed  to  be  the  contriver  of  Norfolk's  ruin, 
yet  his  son  followeth  your  father's  son  and  loveth  him.  Humours  of 
men  succeed  not,  but  grow  by  occasions  and  accidents  of  time  and  power. 
Somerset  made  no  revenge  on  the  Duke  of  Northumberland's  heirs.  North- 
umberland that  now  is  thinks  not  of  Hatton's  issue.  Kelleway  lives  that 
murdered  the  brother  of  Horsey,  and  Horsey  let  him  go  by  all  his  lifetime. 
I  Kx>uld  name  you  a  thousand  of  those,  and  therefore  after  fears  are  but 
prophecies,  or  rather  conjectures,  from  causes  remote.  Look  to  the  present 
and  you  do  wisely.  His  son  shall  be  the  youngest  Earl  of  England  but  one, 
and  if  his  father  be  now  kept  down,  Will  Cecil  shall  be  able  to  keep  as  many 
men  at  his  heels  as  he,  and  more  too.  He  may  also  match  in  a  better  house 
than  his,  and  so  that  fear  is  not  worth  the  fearing.  But  if  the  father  continue, 
he  will  be  able  to  break  the  branches  and  pull  up  the  tree,  root  and  all. 
Lose  not  your  advantage.  If  you  do,  I  read  your  destiny. 

Yours  to  the  end,  W.  R. 

[P.S.]  Let  the  Queen  hold  Bothwell1  while  she  hath  him.  He  will  ever 
be  the  canker  of  her  estate  and  safety.  Princes  are  lost  by  security  and  pre- 
served by  prevention.  I  have  seen  the  last  of  her  good  days  and  all  ours 
after  his  liberty.  W.  R.  [Endorsed  "Sir  Walter  Raleigh."]2 

Anything  more  unknightly  to  the  man  who  had  been  his  chief 
and  his  benefactor,  anything  more  contemptible  than  the  methods 
by  which  Raleigh  here  tempts  the  Prime  Minister,  I  have  not  met 
in  the  chronicles  of  English  history.  It  is  true  that  we  must 
weigh  each  word,  that  we  must  read  between  the  lines  and  study 
the  examples  given ;  but  the  meaning  is  clear.  The  advice  is  Death 
to  Essex  means  a  life  of  prosperity  to  Cecil.  How  else  could  "the 
son  of  Essex"  become  the  youngest  Earl  in  England  but  one? 

1  A  name  given  here  to  Essex.  *  Salisb.  Papers,  x.  439. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
JUDGMENTS 

THE  degree  of  success  that  attends  political  actions  determines  the 
phrases  by  which  they  are  known.  What  would  have  been 
remembered  as  a  coup  d'etat^  as  a  new  method  of  turning  out  an 
old  government,  was  entered  in  history  as  a  "rebellion^"  because  it 
failed. 

An  independent  attempt  of  Captain  Thomas  Lea1  to  force  the 
Queen  to  send  a  pardon  to  the  imprisoned  Earls,  and  an  order  to 
have  them  brought  before  herself  to  be  heard  and  judged  fairly, 
hastened  and  embittered  proceedings.  When  apprehended  in  the 
court  and  reproached  with  his  intended  coercion  of  his  sovereign, 
Lea  said  with  some  insight  into  her  character  and  her  future  that 
he  "would  have  made  her  angry  for  one  half  hour,  to  have  lived 
the  merrier  all  the  rest  of  her  life."  He  loved  his  general  Essex 
more  than  his  own  life,  and  was  willing  to  risk  it  to  bless  his  Queen 
and  country  by  trying  to  get  him  set  free.  Short  work  was  made 
with  him;  examined  on  the  I3th,  to  ensure  consternation,  he  had  a 
hasty  form  of  trial  on  the  i6th  and  was  executed  on  the  iyth 
of  February. 

Eleven  days  after  their  apprehension,  Essex  and  his  main  sup- 
porter, Southampton,  were  brought  before  their  judges  "in  West- 
minster Hall  in  a  court  made  of  purpose,  square  and  spacious — 
At  the  lower  end  of  the  Hall  sat  the  Queen's  Counsell,  and  at 
their  backs,  a  space  railed  in  for  the  Earls."2 

In  a  bill  of  the  Queen's  charges3,  rendered  on  28th  September, 
after  all  the  domestic  decorations  and  the  Robes  of  the  Garter  for 
the  French  King,  the  last  item  runs,  "For  Brodecloth,  Saye,  canvas 
nailes  and  workmanship  employed  and  used  in  Westminster  Hall 
at  the  arraignment  of  the  two  late  Earls  of  Essex  and  Southampton." 
Everyone  knows  the  pitiful  story,  every  historian  and  letter  writer 

1  D.S.S.P.    CCLXXVIII.   61,   62.     Vincent   Hussey,    94.     Cecil  to  Carew, 
March  4th. 

2  Ibid,  et  seq.  *  Add.  MS.  5751. 


CH.  xiv]  JUDGMENTS  207 

of  the  period  record  it  more  or  less  fully,  and  it  need  not  here  be 
repeated  in  extenso.  I  have  made  transcripts  at  the  Record  Office 
of  over  200  closely  written  pages  concerning  the  whole  mattec, 
but  they  cannot  be  utilised  here.  Some  of  the  special  incidents  and 
sayings  which  bear  on  the  main  question  must,  however,  be  pointed 
out.  The  prisoners  did  not  seem  to  notice  the  names  of  their 
judges  or  jury,  as  read  out  to  them,  until  the  name  of  Lord  Grey 
was  called.  Then  Essex  jogged  Southampton  on  the  elbow  and 
laughed  a  scornful  laugh.  He  knew  no  good  was  intended  then, 
when  a  chief  enemy  was  set  in  power  of  place  over  them.  Essex 
asked  if  they  might  challenge  any  of  their  peers  for  known 
inimical  feeling,  as  meaner  persons  might.  This  right  of  English 
jury  custom  was  denied  them. 

Chamberlain's  account  becomes  interesting  because  of  his 
evident  impartiality,  and  it  shews  how  the  list  of  charges,  like  a  ball 
of  snow,  gathered  as  it  rolled.  On  February  24th,  1600-1,  he 
wrote  to  Carleton:  "The  iQth  hereof  the  Erles  of  Essex  and  South- 
ampton were  arraigned  at  Westminster  before  the  Lord  Treasurer, 
the  Lord  High  Steward  of  England  for  that  day,  and  25  of  their 
peeres,  of  whom  were  9  Erles  and  1 6  barons.  The  only  matters 
objected  were  his  practice  to  surprise  the  court,  his  comming  into 
London  to  raise  rebellion,  and  the  defending  his  house  against  the 
Queen's  forces.  To  the  two  later  he  answered  that  he  was  driven 
for  safety  of  his  life,  to  the  former  that  it  was  a  matter  only  in  con- 
sultation, and  not  resolved  upon,  and  if  it  had  taken  effect,  it  was 
only  to  prostrate  himselfe  at  her  Majestie's  feet,  and  there  manifest 
such  matters  against  his  enemies  as  should  make  them  odious,  remove 
them  from  about  her  person,  and  recal  him  to  her  former  favour. 
This  was  the  summe  of  his  answer,  but  delivered  with  such  bravery, 
and  so  many  wordes  that  a  man  might  easilie  perceve  that,  as  he 
had  ever  lived  popularly,  so  his  chiefe  care  was  to  leave  a  good 
opinion  in  the  people's  minds  now  at  parting.  But  the  worst  of  all 
was  his  many  and  lowd  protestations  of  his  faith  and  loyaltie  to 
the  Queue  and  state,  which  no  doubt  caught  and  carried  away  a 
great  part  of  the  hearers;  but  I  cannot  be  so  easilie  led  to  beleve 
protestations  (though  never  so  deep)  against  manifest  proofe,  yet  I 
must  needes  say  that  one  thing  stickes  much  in  many  men's  mindes, 
that,  whereas  divers  preachers  were  commanded  the  Sunday  before 


208     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

to  deliver  to  the  people,  amongst  his  other  treasons,  that  he  had 
complotted  with  Tirone,  and  was  reconciled  to  the  Pope,  and 
whereas  Mr  Attorney  (Coke),  at  Tom  Lea's  arraignment,  averred 
the  same  combining  with  Tirone,  and  that  he  had  practised  by  the 
means  of  Seminarie  priests  with  the  Pope  and  the  King  of  Spaine 
to  be  king  of  England,  there  was  no  such  matter  once  mentioned 
at  his  arraignment,  and  yet  there  was  time  enough  for  it  between 
nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  until  almost  seven  at  night. "..."The 
Erie  of  Southampton  spake  very  well  (but  methought  somewhat 
too  much,  as  well  as  the  other)  and  as  a  man  that  would  faine  live, 
pleaded  hard  to  acquite  himself,  but  all  in  vaine,  for  it  could  not 
be,  whereupon  he  descended  to  entreatie,  and  moved  great  com- 
miseration; and  though  he  were  generally  well  liked,  yet  methought 
he  was  somewhat  too  lowe  and  submisse,  and  semed  too  loth  to  die 
before  a  prowde  ennemie."  In  most  accounts,  together  with  the 
true  facts,  Essex  was  charged  with  the  "seeking  to  deprive  her 
Majestic  of  life  and  government,  to  sett  the  crowne  upon  his  own 
head." 

Dr  Smedley  kindly  allowed  me  to  see  his  manuscripts  belonging 
to  this  period,  among  which  is  an  account  of  the  proceedings.  It 
does  not  vary  much  from  other  accounts,  but  has  been  written 
by  a  more  friendly  auditor  than  most.  "The  chief  points  were  the 
rebelling  at  Essex  House,  the  seeking  to  deprive  her  Majesty  of 
life  and  government,  to  set  the  Crowne  upon  his  owne  head,"  etc. 

Mr  Attorney  Coke  declared  Essex  guilty  of  treason  upon  each 
count — and  taunted  him  with  ingratitude  for  the  favours  he  had 
received  from  her  Majesty!  "My  hope  is  that  you  shall  be  Robert 
the  last  Earl  of  your  house,  that  would  have  been  Robert  the  first 
King  of  this  land."  "Also  the  Earle  of  Southampton  hath  received 
divers  favours  from  her  Majestic,  though  for  his  misdemeanour,  it 
hath  pleased  her  to  thinke  worse  of  him." 

Essex  in  his  reply  said:  "That  which  I  speak  is  more  in  justifica- 
tion of  this  noble  man  that  stands  by  me,  and  the  rest  that  are 
ingaged  with  me,  whose  hartes  are  purely  affected  and  whose  bodies 
are  able  to  serve  their  Sovereign  and  Country."  He  saw,  indeed, 
that  "•  the  commandment  of  allegiance  could  not  protect  the  Erie  of 
Southampton  from  the  late  injury  done  unto  him  by  the  Lord  Gray," 
and  therefore  he  resolved  to  stand  upon  his  guard,  "having  certen 


xiv]  JUDGMENTS  209 

advertisements  that  his  private  enemies  were  up  in  armes  against 
him — I  have  had  verie  unjust  courses  used  against  me,  papists 
sought  out  to  accuse  me,  scriveners  to  counterfeit  my  hand.  .7. 
Here  the  Lord  Gray  stood  up  and  protested  he  did  not  now  malise 
the  Erie  of  Southampton,  for  he  delighted  not  to  presse  men  of  an 
abject  fortune,  and  that  which  he  offered  to  him  in  the  street  was 
in  respect  of  an  injurye  (which  quoth  the  Earl  of  Southampton, 
was  never  meant  you).  The  Lord  Steward  commanded  an  end  of 
private  expostulation." 

Depositions  were  read.  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges,  Governor  of 
Plymouth,  had  been  written  to  that  he  should  come  up  and  meet 
Essex  on  2nd*  February.  He  came  up  without  leave,  "which  being 
known  to  Sir  Walter  Rawley  his  kinsman  and  friend,  he  asked 
him  to  meet  him  on  the  water,  and  advised  him  to  depart  instantly." 
Then  were  urged  their  consultations  at  Drury  House,  and  "the  Earl 
of  Southampton  replied  with  protestations  of  all  loyalty  in  his  hart 
towards  her  Majestic.  And  in  that  he  offended  her,  he  was  hartilie 
sorie  and  did  in  all  humbleness  beseech  her  pardon,  but  touching 
the  consultation  at  Drury  House  manie  things  were  propounded 
but  nothing  resolved  upon  (all  being  left  in  the  end  to  the  Erie  of 
Essex  himself).  'But'  (quoth  he)  'put  the  case  as  you  would  have  it, 
it  was  advised  both  to  attempt  the  Court  and  the  Tower  at  once; 
neither  of  the  two  was  done,  how  then  can  it  be  treason?  It  is  true 
that  we  did  consult  at  Drury  House  about  the  securing  my  Lord 
of  Essex  his  accesse,  free  from  impediments,  and  that  for  no  other 
end  than  to  prostrate  ourselves  at  her  Majesty's  feet,  humbly 
submitting  ourselves  to  her  mercie,  and  laying  forth  our  grievances 
to  herself,  whereof  we  thought  she  had  not  soe  true  information 
from  others.  This  was  the  end  of  our  meeting,  and  with  no 

treasonable  thought When  I  was  in  London  I  heard  not  the 

Proclamation... I  never  drew  my  sword  all  day.  I  am  charged  to 
have  carried  a  pistol.  I  had  none  when  I  went  out,  but  (being  in 
the  street)  I  saw  one  having  a  pistol.  I  desired  it  of  him  and  had  it, 
but  it  had  no  stone,  nor  could  it  have  hurt  a  fly.  At  my  return  to 
Essex  House  I  did  what  I  could  to  hinder  the  shooting.  For  that 
I  was  too  far  carried  away  with  love  to  my  Lord  of  Essex  I  confess 
to  have  offended,  that  being  the  only  scope  of  all  my  purposes  in 
this  business.... Good  Mr  Attorney'  (quoth  he)  'let  me  ask  you  what 

s.  s.  14 


210     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

you  think  in  your  conscience  we  would  have  done  to  the  Queene, 
if  we  had  gained  the  Court?'  'I  protest  upon  my  soule  and 
conscience '  (quoth  Mr  Attorney) '  I  doe  beleeve  she  should  not  have 
long  lived  after  she  had  been  in  your  power.  Note  but  the  pre- 
cedents of  former  ages,  how  long  lived  Richard  the  Second  after  he 
was  surprised  in  the  same  manner?  The  pretence  was  alike  for  the 
removing  of  certain  counsellors,  but  yet  shortly  after  it  cost  him  his 
life. '...The  judges  were  required  to  deliver  their  several  opinions 
for  the  question  before  propounded  by  the  Earl  of  Southampton,  and 
they  said  it  was  treason." 

Then  was  read  the  deposition  of  Sir  Charles  Danvers,  that 
before  Christmas  Essex  had  deliberated  to  secure  his  access  to 
the  Queen  by  surprising  the  Captain  of  the  Guard.  He  had 
rather  wished  the  Earl  to  fly  with  a  few  friends;  but  he  had  agreed 
to  the  consultations  at  Drury  House,  from  the  love  he  bore  to 
the  Earl  of  Southampton,  to  whom  he  owed  his  life.  Then  the 
deposition  of  Sir  Christopher  Blount  was  read.  Essex  answered: 
"These  men  are  in  the  same  case  as  we  are,  and  speak  as  men  that 
would  fain  live.  I  was  drawne  into  this  by  those  which  have  the 
Queen's  ear  and  do  abuse  it,  informing  unto  her  many  untruths 

of  me Being  demanded  who  were  the  persons  at  whom  he 

principally  aimed,  he  answered  Mr  Secretary,  My  Lord  Cobham, 
and  Sir  Walter  Raleigh.  The  Lord  Cobham  rose  up  to  excuse 
himself,  but  the  Lord  Steward  cut  him  short.  Then  Bacon  spoke 
against  the  Earls." 

Essex  resumed  at  the  close:  "'I  was  informed  by  those  of  good 
credit  that  an  honourable,  grave  and  wise  councillor  did  with  tears 
lament  the  courses  which  they  were  taking  with  us... .When  I 
spake  in  London  about  the  Infanta  it  was  because  it  had  been  told 
me  that  Mr  Secretary  should  say  to  one  of  his  fellow  councillors 
that  the  Infanta's  tide  comparatively  was  as  good  as  any  other  in 
the  succession.  Besides,  I  saw  so  many  oppressions  in  the  State  that 
I  was  desirous  to  sacrifice  myself  in  the  redress  thereof  by  doing 
anything  that  a  loyal  subject  could  do  for  the  prevention  of  these 
imminent  evils.'  Herewith  Mr  Secretary  on  his  knees  asked  leave 
to  answer  the  Earl :  *  I  stand  here  in  the  person  of  an  honest  man, 
and  you  there  in  the  place  of  a  traitor,  wherefore  I  do  challenge  you, 
if  you  dare,  to  name  the  Councillor."3 


xiv]  JUDGMENTS  211 

Essex  naturally  refused,  but  said  that  Southampton  had  heard  it 
too;  on  which  Cecil  turned  to  Southampton:  "Then,  my  Lord,  I 
conjure  you  by  all  the  love  and  friendship  that  hath  been  betwixt 
us... to  name  the  Councillor."  Southampton  asked  the  opinion  of 
the  court  as  to  whether  he  should.  "  I  protest  (quoth  Mr  Secretarie) 
before  God  and  heaven  that  you  shall  do  your  prince  and  country 
a  most  acceptable  service,  for  I  were  a  very  unworthie  man  to  hold 
that  place  I  do  in  the  state  if  I  were  touched  in  that  sort."  South- 
ampton named  Sir  William  Knollys,  and  Cecil  begged  he  should 
be  sent  for,  which  was  done,  and  Sir  William  Knollys  cleared  him 
by  saying  it  was  only  in  the  discussion  of  the  seditious  book  by 
Doleman  the  Jesuit  (which  had  been  dedicated  to  the  Earl  of  Essex 
in  1595).  Cecil  had  thought  it  strange  that  Doleman  should  give 
equal  right  to  the  Infanta  in  succession. 

I  pause  over  this  incident  to  consider  Cecil's  terror  and  excite- 
ment at  Essex's  reference  to  himself,  so  out  of  all  proportion  to  the 
statement,  even  if  it  had  been  true.  The  laws  of  inheritance  in 
this  country  formed  one  bar,  the  determinations  of  Henry  VI IPs 
will  formed  another,  which  would  prevent  any  legal  mind  accepting 
the  Infanta's  tide,  though  she  had  descended  from  the  blood  royal 
of  England.  But  it  may  be  remembered  that  Essex,  calling  to  the 
people  in  London  on  the  8th,  had  said  not  only  that  his  adversaries 
"would  give  the  Kingdom  to  the  Infanta!"  but  also  that  "the 
crown  of  England  is  sold  to  the  Spaniard!"1 

It  is  more  than  likely  that,  through  some  of  the  many  spies  who 
had  sought  the  liberality  of  Essex,  some  hint  had  been  given  that 
Cecil  was  among  the  English  pensioners  of  the  King  of  Spain. 
Unable  to  charge  him  without  producing  authority  which  might 
have  injured  others,  Essex  found  himself  in  the  position  of  Hamlet, 
when,  unsure  of  his  ghost,  he  made  up  his  mind  to  test  its  utterances 
by  a  personal  method  and  said 

The  play's  the  thing 
Wherein  I'll  catch  the  conscience  of  the  King  (n.  2). 

Thus  Essex  hazarded  the  remark  about  the  Infanta  as  possible 
heiress  to  the  Crown — a  statement  which  could  more  easily  be 

1  Comp.  note  to  Cecil's  Letter  to  Carew.  Camden  Series,  82,  p.  68, 
also  Add.  MS.  5482,  f.  206. 

14—2 


212     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

discussed.  Cecil's  consternation  would  prove  to  his  satisfaction 
(though  he  was  either  generous  enough  or  prudent  enough  to  say 
no  more  then)  that  there  was  something  in  the  charge.  As  we 
now  know  certainly  that  Cecil  received  not  only  secret  presents 
from  Spain  during  his  whole  life  under  James  I,  but  also  a 
regular  pension,  it  is  much  more  than  likely  he  had  begun  to 
do  so  even  towards  the  close  of  Elizabeth's  reign.  This  was  a 
much  more  fitting  period  for  the  Spanish  King  to  begin  to  tempt 
the  English  courtiers  than  the  commencement  of  the  reign  of 
her  legitimate  and  approved  heir.  One  phrase  among  the  letters 
of  Sir  John  Digby,  ambassador  at  Madrid,  who  discovered  this 
weighty  secret,  suggests  the  idea  that  the  pension  was  "con- 
tinued."1 No  wonder  that  Cecil  was  excited.  It  was  bad  enough 
to  discuss  the  Succession  at  all,  to  discuss  a  Spanish  Succession  worse, 
but  to  be  charged  as  guilty  of  taking  Spanish  gold !  That  would 
soon  make  him  change  places  with  the  "traitors"  (prisoners  at  the 
bar). 

Meanwhile  "the  Queen's  Council  objected  to  the  Earl  of  Essex 
his  hypocrisy  in  having  in  his  house  continual  preachers,  yet  he  was 
content  to  promise  toleration  in  religion." 

The  Earl  of  Southampton  said  he  was  ignorant  of  the  law;  that 
he  had  stirred  only  because  of  his  love  to  the  Earl.  He  saw  his 
friend's  case  very  desperate  for  favour,  and  so  he  consulted  with 
him  and  others  to  clear  the  passage  to  her  Majesty  for  him.  He 
craved  pardon  if  he  had  transgressed.  "Her  Majestic  being  God's 
Lieutenant  upon  earth,  I  hope  she  will  imitate  Him  in  looking  into 
the  heart."  The  deposition  of  Sir  John  Davies  was  then  read.  The 
judges  agreed  that  to  make  a  passage  to  the  Queen  was  treason. 
Then  they  read  the  examinations  of  the  Earl  of  Rutland,  Lord 
Cromwell,  and  Lord  Sandys.  The  Earl  of  Essex  interrupted  and 
said:  "Make  me  as  wicked  as  any  of  your  harts  would,  but  do  not 
make  me  so  absurd  as  to  go  into  the  city  after  such  a  fashion,  if 
I  apprehended  any  imminent  danger."  Mr  Attorney  objected  to 
the  Earl  of  Southampton  that  he  was  a  papist  and  had  conversation 
with  priests.  He  answered  that  he  knew  no  priests  but  only  Wright,. 
and  he  had  had  no  conversation  with  him.  The  Attorney  next 

1  Letters  of  Sir  John  Digby.  in  S.  R.  Gardiner's  History  of  England,  1863,. 
vol.  II.  app.  p.  356;  also  note  p.  68. 


xiv]  JUDGMENTS  213 

charged  Lord  Essex  with  directing  Captain  Lea  to  attempt  the 
Queen,  which  he  denied.  Mr  Attorney  then  stated  that  the  Earl  of 
Essex  had  said  he  must  go  home  for  a  black  bag,  that  it  should  tell 
no  tales  how  he  had  been  betrayed  in  London.  "  You  were  confident 
the  city  was  with  you,  and  in  your  pride  and  overweening  of  your 
heart,  you  contemned  the  Queen's  Royal  authentic,  and  the 
Herald  would  not  be  hearkened  unto."  The  Earl  said  that  he  did 
not  believe  the  herald  had  authority  to  read  a  Proclamation,  being 
a  man  of  noted  dishonesty1.  "I  never  attempted  anything  but 
to  serve  my  Queen  and  country  by  making  her  understand  us." 
Mr  Attorney  told  him,  "  It  was  impossible  but  your  purpose  must 
be  to  sett  the  Crown  upon  your  head  for  you  had  brought  so  many 
Earls,  Barons,  and  gentlemen  of  great  houses  into  this  business  with 
you.  How  could  it  be  thought  you  could  have  rewarded  them  out 
of  such  a  broken  estate  as  yours?"  Then  Bacon  remarked  that 
"the  variety  of  matters  hath  severed  the  judgments  of  the  Lords," 
and  pointed  out  the  legal  bearings  of  each  step. 

The  Lord  Steward  bade  the  Lieutenant  of  the  Tower  remove 
the  prisoners  from  the  bar,  and  asked  each  Lord  singly  if  they 
were  guilty  of  treason.  And  all  held  them  guilty.  They  were 
recalled  to  hear  their  sentence.  Essex  said  that  he  would  not 
contemn  the  Queen's  mercy,  but  he  would  not  desire  it. 

The  Earl  of  Southampton  desired  her  Majesty's  mercy  according 
to  the  innocency  of  his  heart.  He  never  had  a  disloyal  thought  in 
his  life.  He  desired  the  Lord  Steward  and  the  Peers  to  be 
intercessors  for  him. 

The  Commission  for  the  trial  was  dissolved  at  6  o'clock 
in  the  evening,  having  sat  since  9  o'clock  in  the  morning.  The  axe 
turned  towards  them,  the  prisoners  were  led  away  back  to  their 
cells  in  the  Tower  that  Thursday  night — Essex  to  come  forth  no 
more  until  the  last  scene  at  the  block. 

It  may  be  noted  in  this  account,  as  well  as  in  that  of  Chamberlain, 
that,  except  in  the  words  of  the  Proclamation  charge  and  the 
vituperations  of  Attorney-General  Coke,  there  was  no  allusion  to 
Essex  having  intended  usurpation  of  the  crown,  no  evidence  brought 
forward,  no  judgment  made  upon  such  a  charge.  The  advisers  of 

1  There  is  a  case  against  Dethick  in  the  uncalendared  Court  of  Requests 
Papers. 


214     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

the  Crown  evidently  thought  it  a  sufficient,  as  it  certainly  was  an 
easier  and  more  logical,  process,  to  try  to  secure  against  him  a 
particular  rather  than  a  universal  affirmative  conclusion.  If  they 
convicted  him,  that  was  all  that  they  wanted. 

It  seems  almost  necessary  to  cite  a  third  report  of  the  proceedings, 
partly  because  it  records  some  facts  not  mentioned  in  any  other 
account,  and  partly  because  it  shewed  Englishmen  at  that  crisis  cas 
others  saw  them.'  It  was  preserved  among  the  papers  of  Winwood, 
the  ambassador  in  Paris,  being  a  copy  in  his  own  handwriting  of  a 
letter  purporting  to  have  been  written  by  the  French  ambassador 
in  London,  M.  de  Boisisse,  to  the  Due  de  Rohan. 

Doubts  have  been  thrown  upon  the  letter  by  some,  because  the 
ambassador  afterwards  denied  having  written  it;  but,  if  the  details 
are  carefully  examined,  one  can  find  no  reason  to  doubt  that  either 
M.  de  Boisisse  was  present  at  the  trial  and  made  a  report  of  it, 
or  that  some  one  representing  him  did  so.  An  official  denial  might 
have  been  based  on  policy,  on  its  being  only  a  copy,  on  its  having 
been  improperly  secured,  on  many  things. 

Apart  from  natural  errors  in  proper  names,  even  in  dates,  the 
facts  seem  to  be  fairly  accurate,  though  stated  in  a  partisan  spirit. 

Copy  of  a  letter  from  Monsieur  de  Boisisse  (the  French  ambassador  then 
residing  in  England)  to  Monsieur  de  Rohan1. 

De  Londres  4  mars  1600.  O.S. 

Monsieur, 

Je  croy  que  le  malheur  qui  est  arrive  au  Conte  d'Essex  quand  vous 
esties  en  Angleterre,  vous  a  fait  juger  soudainement  quelle  seroit  Tissue  de 
ceste  tragedie.  Laquelle  ayant  este  accompagnee  a  son  commencement  de 
beaucoup  d'infortuns  et  de  disgrace,  il  s'en  est  ensuivi  la  fin,  telle  qu'un 
chacun  la  redoubtoit,  pleine  de  cruaute  et  de  tristesse;  qui  a  este  un 
Jugement  de  mort,  centre  le  Conte  d'Essex,  et  le  Conte  de  Southampton. 
Auquel  ayant  assiste,  par  un  desir  de  veoir  une  chose  si  nouvelle,  et  aussi  de 
remarquer  la  contenance  de  ses  Ennemis,  qui  1'avoyent  petit  a  petit  pousse 
a  ceste  ruine;  j'ay  pense  que  ce  feroit  trop  oublier  mon  devoir,  si  je  ne  vous 
escrivois  particulierement,  tout  ce  qui  c'est  passe  en  ce  Jugement. 

Le  I7me  de  Fevrier,  le  Conte  d'Essex  s'estant  rendu  entre  les  mains  de 
1'Admiraut  sur  les  onze  heures  de  la  nuict,  avec  promesses  d'infinies  curtoisies, 
fut  mene  le  lendemain  a  la  Tour;  et  peu  apres  les  Contes  de  Southampton 
et  de  Rutland,  le  Chevalier  Christophe  Blond  beaupere  dudit  Conte, 
Ferdinando  Gorge  Gouverneur  de  [Plymouth]  Charles  Davers,  et  quelques 

1  Winwood,  Mem.  I.  296. 


xiv]  JUDGMENTS  215 

autres  Gentilshommes,  qui  furent  imprisonnes  autre  part.  Ou  ayant  este 
quelque  temps,  il  arriva  qu'un  Capitain  nomine  Lee,  estime  un  de  plus 
braves  d'Angleterre,  fort  serviteur  dudit  Conte,  se  hazarda  de  dire  a  un  sien 
amy,  n'y  a-t-il  point  moyens,  que  sept  ou  huit  bons  compagnons  commes 
nous  sommes,  puissent  se  jetter  aux  pieds  de  sa  Majeste,  en  despit  de  ces 
Milords  et  de  ce  petit  Bossu,  pour  luy  remonstrer  1'injure  qu'on  fait  a  tant 
de  brave  noblesse,  qui  est  du  tout  innocente  de  ce  qu'on  luy  impose,  et  qui 
pourroit  quelque  jour  luy  rendre  quelque  bon  service.  L'autre  luy  respondit 
froidement,  qu'il  ne  trouvoit  point  de  moyen.  Or  bien  dit  il,  je  luy  en 
parlera  quant  je  devrois  mourir;  aussi  bien,  j'ay  une  requeste  a  luy  presenter 
pour  mes  affayres,  et  par  mesme  moyen,  je  pourray  aisement  executer  mon 
desseign.  Ce  que  1'autre  ayant  entendu,  il  ne  fallit  (comme  c'est  la  coustume 
des  Anglois  de  se  trahir  1'un  1'autre),  d'en  advertir  le  Secretaire  Cecille. 
Lequel  prenant  1'occasion  par  les  cheveux,  se  servoit  de  ce  que  ce  Capitaine 
avoit  dit,  et  le  changeant  tout  au  rebours,  fait  acroire  a  la  Royne  avec  ceux 
de  son  party,  qu'un  tel  avoit  este  trouve  par  le  Chancelier  en  sa  Chambre, 
ou  elle  a  accoustume  de  manger,  avec  un  pistolet  pour  cest  effect. 

La  Royne  tout  epouvantee,  et  craignant  fort  la  mort,  commandait  qu'il 
soit  cruellement  puni :  Ce  qui  ne  fut  pas  differe  car  il  fut  plus  tost  execute, 
qu'il  ne  sceut  1'occasion  pourquoi  on  le  faisoit  mourir.  La  peine  fut  telle, 
on  luy  arracha  la  nature,  puis  on  la  jetta  au  feu;  apres,  on  luy  ouvroit  le 
ventre,  luy  arrachant  le  cceur  et  les  entrailles,  ce  qu'estant  consume  par  le 
feu,  on  fait  plusieurs  quartiers  de  son  corps,  lesqueles  ils  meirent  en  parade 
sur  les  Tours  de  la  Ville  (Ilz  ont  accoustume  de  punir  ainsi,  ceux  qu'ilz 
appellent  Traistres). 

Or  1'execution  de  ce  Gentilhome  estant  fait,  les  ennemis  du  Conte  d'Essex 
ayant  beau  jeu,  ne  manquent  point  de  belles  raisons  pour  retenir  ceste 
princesse  en  sa  premiere  craincte,  et  luy  persuader,  que  cela  venoit  de  la 
part  du  Conte  d'Essex,  qu'il  y  en  avoit  bien  d'autres  qui  trainoient  un 
mesme  desseing.  Surquoy,  elle  commande  a  ceux  de  son  Conseil  d'examiner 
le  Conte  d'Essex  et  le  Conte  de  Southampton,  et  d'en  faire  brieve  Justice. 
Lesquelz  ne  voulantz  respondre,  demandent  d'estre  juges  devant  leurs  payrs. 
Ce  qu'estant  accorde  (plutost  pour  forme  de  Justice,  et  pour  faire  mieux 
acroire  au  peuple  qu'ilz  estoyent  Traistres,  que  par  desir  qu'ilz  y  eussent), 
ilz  sont  conduictz  en  la  grande  Salle  de  Westminster  le  premier  jour  de 
Mars,  pour  respondre  aux  accusations  qu'on  leur  mettoit  dessus. 

Leur  juges,  estoyent  neuf  Contes  et  Seize  Barons.  Le  Grand  Seneschal, 
qu'ilz  appellent  Stuuard,  estoit  le  Grand  Tresorier,  fort  mal  propre  pour 
ceste  charge.  II  y  avoit  aussy  huict  Conselliers  de  leur  Parlement,  lesquelz 
estoyent  assis  un  peu  bas  que  les  Pairs.  Les  Noms  de  Contes  estoyent,  le 
Conte  de  Oxford,  Parent  fort  proche  du  Secretaire,  le  Conte  Shreusbery, 
grand  Ennemi  du  Conte  d'Essex,  le  Conte  Derby,  le  Conte  Sussex,  le  Conte 
d'Erford,  le  Conte  Oustre,  le  Conte  Nottingham  qui  est  PAdmiral,  le  Conte 
Cumberland,  le  Conte  de  Lyncolne.  Les  Nom  s  de  Barons,  Chandos,  Darcey, 


216     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

Thomas  Havart,  Cobham,  Gray,  Bourgley,  frere  du  Secretaire,  Riche, 
beaufrere  de  Conte  d'Essex,  Compton,  Lumley,  Hunsdund,  qui  est  le 
Chambellan,  De  la  Warre,  Morlay;  il  y  avait  aussy  un  Viconte  que  s'appelle 
Byndon.  Les  Accusateurs  estoyent  un  sergent  en  Loy,  et  Advocat  de  la 
Royne  qu'ilz  appellent  le  Atturnay  Bacon. 

Les  Accusations  estoyent  en  General,  qu'il  n'estoit  Sorty  de  sa  Maison 
que  pour  esmouvoir  le  peuple  a  le  suivre;  qu'il  avoit  empesche  1'Heraut  de 
faire  sa  Proclamation,  qu'il  avoit  fait  resistence  en  une  rue,  ou  son  escuyer 
fut  tue,  son  beaupere  fort  blesse,  et  luy  mis  en  grand  danger  de  sa  vie 
ayant  eu  le  chapeau  perce  de  deux  harquebuzades;  qu'il  avoit  retenu  le 
Chancellier,  le  Chef  de  Justice,  le  Conte  de  Oustre,  et  Knolles  son  oncle, 
prisonniers  en  sa  Maison;  qu'il  estoit  papiste;  qu'il  retenoit  les  Jesuits  en 
sa  Maison;  qu'il  vouloit  usurper  la  Couronne;  qu'il  avoit  de  grands  Intelli- 
gences en  Escosse,  et  en  Irelande  avec  le  Conte  de  Tyrone.  Bref,  qu'il  avoit 
vendu  la  Ville  de  Londres  a  PInfante,  et  qu'il  en  avoit  receu  quelque  Argent. 
Voila  ce  que  generallement  ilz  luy  objecterent.  Les  Accusations  principalles, 
et  dont  ils  faisoyent  plus  de  bruit,  sont  celles  cy :  D'avoir  retenu  le  Chancellier, 
le  Chef  de  Justice,  le  Conte  de  Oustre,  et  Knolles,  prisoniers;  d'estre  sorty 
de  sa  Maison;  et  d'avoir  escrit  une  lettre,  par  laquelle  ilz  se  forcoyent  de  le 
rendre  coulpable.  Les  autres  n'estoyent  que  pour  le  charger  d'avantage,  et 
pour  le  rendre  plus  odieux.  Ayant  fait  que  bien  peu  d'instance  devant  que 
respondre  a  toutes  ses  Accusations,  il  pria  ses  Juges  de  luy  permettre  une 
chose,  que  n'est  point  refusee  aux  personnes  les  plus  Viles ;  c'estoit,  de  n'estre 
point  juge  par  ses  ennemis  propres,  et  de  reprocher  ceux  qu'il  voudroit. 
II  luy  fut  respondu  par  les  huict  Conseilliers  fort  malicieusment,  qu'il 
n'estoit  pas  possible,  que  ses  ennemis,  Gens  de  grand  qualite,  quand  ils 
avoyent  fait  le  serment  On  mi  honour,  comme  ilz  disent  (qui  vaut  autant 
que  sur  mon  honeur),  qu'ilz  voulussent  rompre  un  serment,  qui  leur  doit 
estre  plus  cher  cent  fois  que  la  vie. 

Cette  demande  luy  estant  deniee  avec  beaucoup  d'iniquite,  il  respondit 
a  tout  mot  a  mot  avec  une  telle  asseurance  et  contenance,  qu'il  rendoit  ses 
ennemis  si  estonnes,  que  voulant  parler  centre  luy  ilz  demeuroyent  muetz; 
ou  s'ilz  parloyent,  c'estoit  avec  un  begayement  qui  tesmoignoit  assez  leur 
crainte,  accompagnee  d'une  mauvaise  volonte.  II  disoit  soventes  fois,  qu'il 
n'estoit  pas  venu  la  pour  sauver  sa  vie,  mais  pour  deffendre  son  honneur; 
qu'il  y  avoit  long  temps  que  ses  ennemis  le  desiroyent  la  pour  avec  leur 
chiquanries  et  leur  tortues  inventions  luy  faire  perdre  la  teste,  ce  que  cer- 
tainement  n'estoit  point  si  cache  qu'il  ne  le  fut  connu  a  un  chacun.  En 
outre,  cecy  doit  bien  tenir  le  premier  lieu  de  la  plus  grand  mechancete  qu'il 
se  puisse  commettre,  c'est,  que  les  loix  d'Angleterre  veulent,  que  les  tesmoigns 
soient  examines  devant  les  juges,  et  devant  le  criminel;  au  contraire,  boule- 
versant  les  loix,  et  les  servant  a  leur  poste,  meirent  en  avant  quelques  fausses 
examinations  du  Conte  de  Rutland  et  du  Chevalier  Christophle  Blond  et 
Charles  Davers,  lesquelz  devoyent  estre  oiiys,  et  non  pas  le  papier,  qui 


xiv]  JUDGMENTS  217 

estoit  rempli  de  tout  ce  qui  pouvoit  nuire  audit  Conte  d'Essex.  Et  pour 
mieux  joiier  leur  role,  Us  feirent  venir  Ferdinand  Gorge,  le  plus  grand  Amy 
qui  eust  le  Conte  d'Essex,  etle  premier  qui  sortit  avec  luy;  lequel,  corrumpu 
par  ses  ennemis  avec  promesses  de  ne  mourir  point,  accusa  le  Conte  d'Essex, 
mais  depuis,  vaincu  par  sa  Conscience,  et  des  demandes  du  Conte  qui  le 
pressoyent  fort,  il  confessa  que  le  dit  Conte  ne  luy  avoit  jamais  parle  qu'il 
eust  desseing  de  sayser  la  Royne,  comme  ses  ennemis  luy  reprochoyent. 

Or  ne  se  contentant  pas  de  ceste  faussete,  et  d'autres  petites  Galanteries 
de  leur  bon  esprit,  ilz  font  venir  le  Secretaire,  comme  personne  interposee 
en  leur  tragedie.  Lequel  ayant  plus  de  deux  ans  passes,  bien  songe  a  ce  qu'il 
avoit  a  dire,  tonna  une  quantite  de  paroles  contre  le  Conte  d'Essex.  Lequel 
n'eut  faute  de  responce  de  moyens  pour  maintenir  au  Secretaire,  qu'il  avoit 
eu  Intelligence  avec  le  feu  Roy  d'Espagne  1'annee  de  la  Grande  Flotte.  Ce 
que  picqua  si  fort  le  Secretaire  (pour  en  estre  paraventure  quelque  chose) 
qu'il  se  prit  a  crier  tout  hault,  qu'il  ne  feroit  jamais  service  a  sa  Majeste,  si 
on  ne  luy  ostoit  la  teste  comme  a  un  Traistre.  Et  continuant  son  discours, 
il  se  mit  a  genoux,  protestant  devant  Dieu  de  sa  Fidellite  (il  n'avoit  pas 
oublie  ce  jour  la  petite  boiste,  car  en  ma  vie  je  ne  le  veis  plus  beau).  Aussitost 
les  Pairs  se  leveront  de  leur  places,  et  le  chapeau  au  poing,  le  prierent  se 
relever;  disant,  qu'ilz  croyoyent  fermement,  que  sa  Majeste  n'avoit  point 
de  mellieur  Serviteur  que  luy,  et  que  sa  Fidellite  leur  estoit  assez  connue 
(a  leur  contenance  ilz  redoubtoyent  plus  ce  petit  homme,  que  leur  conscience 
et  que  leur  Royne).  Le  Secretaire  ayant  done  relasche  a  ses  injures,  un  peu 
apres  les  Advocatz  meirent  fin  a  leur  Accusation,  et  Messieurs  les  Pairs  a 
leur  confitures,  et  a  la  biere;  car  ce  pendant  que  le  Conte  et  les  Advocatz 
playdoyent,  Messieurs  bauffroyent  comme  s'ilz  n'eussent  mange  de  15  jours, 
prenant  aussi  force  Tabac,  entre  autres  le  Conte  Cumberland;  puis,  s'en 
allerent  en  une  Salle  pour  donner  leur  voix;  ou,  bien  saouls  et  bien  yvres  de 
Tabac,  condemnerent  les  deux  Contes  au  mesme  supplice  que  le  Capitaine 
Lee,  les  appellans  Traistres  et  Rebelles. 

Le  Conte  d'Essex  oyant  prononcer  son  Arrest,  fut  aussy  content  et  asseure 
comme  si  on  1'eust  mene  dancer  avec  la  Royne.  Le  Jugement  dura  depuis 
huict  heurs  de  matin  jusques  a  sept  du  soir,  auquel  une  quantite  de  Gentilz- 
homes  et  de  Dames  se  trouverent;  lesquelz  ayant  lasche  la  boucle  de  leur 
yeux,  verserent  tant  de  larmes,  que  si  les  Juges  n'eussent  eu  un  courage  de 
Tygre  (que  ne  cherche  que  le  sang)  ils  eussent  sans  doute  revoque  leur 
Sentence.  Depuis  peu  il  a  couru  un  bruit,  que  le  Conte  Southampton  avoit 
sa  grace,  et  que  le  Conte  Rutland,  qui  n'est  pas  encore  juge,  seroit  quite 
pour  d'Argent.  II  m'a  este  dit  aussi  de  bonne  part,  que  le  Conte  d'Essex 
le  petit  Cecile  ayant  celebre  la  Cene  ensemble,  est  qu'ilz  estoyent  recon^ 
cilies. 

Voyla  tout  ce  que  j'ay  peu  veoir  et  recognoistre  de  ce  malheur;  lequel 
pour  estre  arrive  a  la  personne  d'Angleterre  qui  a  plus  de  vertus,  et  qui 
cherit  plus  la  France,  ne  peut  qu'il  n'apporte  un  extreme  regret  a  un  chacun, 


2i8     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

principalement  a  vous,  qui  pour  estre  extremement  vertueux  et  scavant  en 
la  valeur  de  ses  galands,  la  recognoissies  mieu  que  personne  cette  perte 
inestimable.  C'est  pourquoy  je  mettray  fin  a  ce  triste  discours  me  contentant 
seulement  du  jugement  que  vous  en  ferez,  et  de  1'honneur  que  j'auray,  si 
j'ay  tant  de  faveur  en  vostre  endroit,  d'estre  tenu 

Monsieur,  pour 
Vostre  tres  humble  &  tres  obeissant  serviteur, 

DE  THUMERT 
De  Londres  4  Mars 
1600,  S.N. 

Winwood  wrote  to  Cecil  on  2Oth  April  that  M.  de  Rohan,  or 
one  of  his  people,  divulged  this  French  libellous  letter.  A  copy 
came  to  the  States  agent,  as  written  by  Boisisse,  from  whom  he 
received  it.  The  signature  seemed  to  avow  the  same  and  many 
other  circumstances,  as  well  as  the  date.  The  day  afterwards  the 
ambassador  despatched  La  Motte  with  letters  to  the  King.  M.  de 
Messe  said  that  his  brother-in-law  Boisisse  was  too  wise  to  write 
such  a  letter,  but  his  son  might  do  it,  and  their  signatures  were 
alike.  "  M.  de  Fontaine  will  return  soon  and  may  clear  it,  he  has 
seen  the  original  letter,  and  thinks  it  by  the  son."  He  had  been 
told  that  one  jealous  of  the  good  reputation  of  M.  de  Boisisse 
had  written  it.  Boisisse  is  willing  to  deny  it1. 

Southampton's  wife  and  mother,  probably  present  at  the  trial 
among  the  ladies  mentioned,  certainly,  if  they  had  courage  to  be 
present,  among  those  who  had  shed  tears,  wrote  to  Cecil  at  once. 
The  first  is  dated  by  the  writer's  words. 

The  woeful  news  to  me  of  my  Lord's  condemnation  passed  this  day  makes 
me  in  this  my  most  amazed  distress  address  myself  unto  you  and  your 
virtues  as  being  the  only  likely  means  to  yield  me  comfort.  Therefore  I  do 
beseech  you  and  conjure  you  by  whatsoever  is  dearest  unto  you  that  you 
will  vouchsafe  so  much  commiseration  unto  a  most  afflicted  woman  as  to  be 
my  means  unto  her  sacred  Majesty  that  I  may  by  her  divine  self  be  permitted 
to  come  to  prostrate  myself  at  her  feet,  to  beg  for  mercy  for  my  Lord. 
Oh !  let  me  I  beseech  you  in  this  my  great  distress  move  you  to  have  this 
compassion  of  me  I  sue  for,  and  in  doing  so  you  shall  oblige  me  to  acknowledge 
myself  most  bound  unto  you,  to  pray  for  your  honour  and  prosperity.  So 
kept  alive  only  with  hope  to  obtain  mercy  I  restlessly  remain  the  most 
unhappy  and  miserable 

ELIZABETH  SOUTHAMPTON2. 

1  Winwood,  Mem.  i.  315.  2  Salisb.  Papers,  xi.  70. 


xiv]  JUDGMENTS  219 

About  the  same  date  the  mother  pleaded: 

God  of  heaven  knows  I  can  scarce  hold  my  hand  steady  to  write  and  less 
hold  steady  in  my  heart  how  to  write,  only  for  what  I  know,  which  is  to  pray 
mercy  to  my  miserable  son.  Good  Mr  Secretary,  let  the  bitter  passion  of 
a  perplexed  mother  move  you  to  plead  for  her  only  son  for  whom,  if  he  had 
led  the  dance  of  this  disloyalty,  I  protest  to  God  I  would  never  sue,  but 
being  first  surprised  by  an  alliance,  seduced  and  circumvented  by  that 
wicked  acquaintance  and  conversation,  good  Sir  give  me  leave  and  believe 
that  with  duty  nature  may  speak  and  my  continual  tears  may  plead  for 
mercy. 

It  appeared  to  me  many  times  his  earnest  desire  to  secure  her  Majesty's 
favour,  his  doleful  discontented  behaviour  when  he  could  not  obtain  it, 
how  apt  despair  made  him  at  length  to  receive  evil  counsel  and  follow  such 
company.  I  rather  fear  it  than  know  certainly  what  bewitched  him  that  he 
should  not  know  of  practice  and  conspiracy  before  the  execution  of  it,  this 
induceth  much  upon  my  duty.  I  have  examined  and  do  believe  will  be  found 
true,  he  had  not  forty  shillings  about  him  nor  in  his  store,  yet,  upon  sale  oi 
land  lately  before,  he  might  have  received  a  far  greater  sum,  which  he  refused, 
and  willed  it  to  be  paid  to  his  creditors,  a  thing  I  think  no  man  would  have 
done  that  had  such  a  business  in  hand  and  at  hand.  O  Good  Mr  Secretary, 
as  God  hath  placed  you  near  a  Prince,  so  help  to  move  her  Majesty  to  do 
like  a  God  whose  mercy  is  infinite,  which  I  hope  may  be  with  her  safety, 
when  the  head  of  this  confusion  is  taken  away.  Nothing  is  fitter  than  her 
safety,  nor  any  virtue  can  better  become  her  place  and  power  than  mercy, 
which  let  my  prayer  move  you  to  beg  for  me  and  God  move  her  Majesty 
to  grant  the  most  sorrowful  and  afflicted  mother.  M.S.1 

Failure  seems  to  change  the  characters  of  men  who  have  ex- 
perienced nothing  but  success.  Hardly  had  Essex  been  condemned 
than  a  radical  change  came  over  him  in  thought,  speech,  and 
behaviour.  There  is  an  often  repeated  romantic  story  regarding 
him  at  that  period,  which  has  been  doubted  of  late;  but  several 
other  incidents  tend  to  corroborate  it,  and  it  is  very  much  in 
harmony  with  the  romantic  nature  of  the  relations  between 
Elizabeth  and  her  favourites.  In  the  palmy  days  of  his  fortunes 
it  was  said  that  the  Queen  gave  Essex  a  ring  by  which  he  could 
appeal  to  her  favour  when  he  should  come  into  dire  straits.  He 
is  said  to  have  remembered  this,  to  have  relied  on  her  word,  and 
to  have  sent  the  ring  to  her  by  the  Countess  of  Nottingham,  who 
shewed  it  to  Cecil,  and  he  advised  her  to  refrain  from  interfering 

1  Salisb.  Papers,  xi.  71-72. 


220     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

with  the  course  of  events.  It  is  no  argument  against  this  story 
that  no  official  record  has  come  down  of  it;  such  state  secrets  were 
**  con  trolled,"  at  least,  at  that  time1.  The  story  survives  under 
various  embellishments  and  variations. 

Another  account  finds  the  cause  of  the  change  in  Essex  in  the 
ultra-Puritanism  of  his  attendant  chaplain.  Something  definite  at 
least  had  changed  the  feelings  of  the  unfortunate  man.  Feeling 
that  he  was  doomed  to  die,  he  gave  up  all  further  concern  with 
the  affairs  of  this  world.  The  imaginative  nature  of  his  deep-seated 
religious  feelings  magnified  his  faults,  even  to  himself,  into  crimes, 
and,  with  exaggerated  humility,  he  begged  pardon  of  all  those 
whom  he  had  rightly  called  his  enemies.  In  his  utterances  there 
is  a  pathetic  relevance  to  those  of  his  father  in  his  closing  days, 
when  he  is  said  to  have  written  and  sung  the  lines  which  appear  in 
the  1 596  edition  of  the  Paradise  of  Dainty  Devices*.  His  other- 
worldliness  did  not  desert  him  at  the  block  on  Ash  Wednesday, 
February  25th,  though  he  would  fain  have  cleared  himself,  even 
then,  of  any  disloyalty  in  intention  to  the  Queen.  The  reports  of 
his  closing  hours  appeared  in  every  record  of  the  time;  Camden's 
ends  as  follows:  "Thus  most  piously  and  truly  Christianly  died 

Robert  Devereux  Earle  of  Essex  in  the  34th  year  of  his  age No 

man  was  more  ambitious  of  glory  by  virtue,  no  man  more  careless 
of  all  things  else."3 

A  long  breath  was  drawn  in  the  nation  at  large  when  the 
news  spread — by  the  adversaries  of  Essex  with  a  sense  of  relief; 
by  the  bulk  of  the  people  with  a  feeling  of  awed  repulsion;  by  the 
condemned  men  in  the  Tower  with  a  new  terror.  It  is  one  thing 
to  meet  death  bravely  in  a  field  of  battle,  with  dreams  of  patriotism, 
love,  and  glory;  it  is  another  thing  to  meet  it  in  the  shambles  of 
an  attainder,  with  loss  and  shame  and  execration.  Many  confessed 
what  they  were  told  to  confess,  even  though  they  did  not  all 
escape. 

Bacon,  as  charged  with  part  of  the  prosecution,  wrote  The 
Declaration  of  the  Treasons  of  the  Earl  of  Essex  to  justify  the 

1  Strickland's  Elizabeth,  p.  772. 

2  "  The  Complaint  of  a  Sinner  "  sung  by  the  Earl  of  Essex,  on  his  death- 
bed in  Ireland.    It  is  not  in  early  editions  of  the  collection. 

8  Camden,  Elizabeth,  ed.  1630,  book  iv.  pp.  179-188. 


xivj  JUDGMENTS  221 

Queen  and  the  Council  in  the  eyes  of  the  people  (Robert  Barker, 
1601). 

It  would  be  interesting  to  know  how  much  of  it  he  believed. 
The  people  responded  by  singing  "  Well-a-day"  and  other  ballads  in 
honour  of  the  departed  hero,  who  had  carried  the  fame  of  England 
so  far1.  Richard  Bancroft,  Bishop  of  London,  was  on  the  hunt  for 
this  ballad,  as  if  it  had  contained  a  pernicious  heresy.  "A  fellow 
goeth  about  the  streets  selling  the  Ballads  whereof  here  is  a  copy 
enclosed.  He  giveth  it  out  that  the  Countess  of  Essex  made  it, 
which  induced  many  to  buy.  I  am  told  the  ballad  was  ready 
half  a  year  ago,  upon  some  other  occasion.  I  have  sent  for  the 
Wardens  of  the  Stationers.  These  villainous  printers  trouble  me 
more  than  I  write  of."2  (ayth  Feb.  1600-1.) 

Essex  had  urged  James  of  Scotland  to  send  up  ambassadors  by 
the  ist  of  February3 — they  did  not  start  till  the  middle  of  the 
month  or  reach  London  until  the  6th  of  March.  Too  late. 
Their  instructions  were  delayed  by  "that  unfortunate  accident." 
In  James'  first  letter  to  Cecil  under  cipher  numbers  30  to  10  he 
says,  "30  doth  protest  upon  his  conscience  and  honour  that  Essex 
had  never  any  dealing  with  him  which  was  not  most  honourable 
and  avowable.  As  for  his  misbehaviour  there,  it  belongs  not  to  30 
to  judge  of  it,  for  though  30  loved  him  for  his  virtues,  30  was 
in  no  ways  obliged  to  embrace  his  quarrels."4  Camden  himself 
said  of  this  "conspiracy":  "This  commotion  which  some  call  a 
fear  and  mistrust,  others  an  oversight;  others  who  censured  it 
more  hardly  termed  it  an  obstinate  impatience,  and  seeking  of 
revenge;  and  such  as  spoke  worst  of  it  called  it  an  unadvised  and 
indiscreet  rashness,  and  to  this  day  there  are  few  that  ever  thought 
it  a  capital  crime."5 

A  later  comparison  was  drawn  between  Essex  and  the  Due  de 
Biron.  "After  Biron  had  been  condemned  to  death,  it  was  found 
that  he  had  not  been  guilty  of  any  of  these  conspiracies  for  which 
he  was  arraigned;  but  only  had  offended  the  King  by  writing  a 
discontented  letter,  and  had  given  the  charge  of  the  army  to  one 

1  Roxburgh  Ballads,  I.  nos.  402,  563,  571. 

2  Cecil  Papers,  LXXXVII. 

3  Secret  Correspondence  of  James  (Lord  Hailes). 

4  Camden  Series,  LXXVIII.  73,  no.  i. 

5  Camden,  Elizabeth,  ed.  1630,  bk.  iv.  p.  178. 


222    THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON    [CH.  xiv 

whom  the  King  did  not  like — Though  Biron  had  offended  in 
Law  he  might  have  been  pardoned."1  The  tragedy  filled  the 
hearts  of  foreigners  with  horror,  especially  in  the  States  and  in 
France. 

It  is  not  likely  that  Elizabeth  ever  heard  what  people  abroad 
thought  of  her  action.  It  is  impossible  to  dwell  on  it  here,  but 
there  is  one  letter  which  I  should  like  to  quote.  It  is  written  at 
some  place  in  Flanders,  not  far  from  Liege,  on  the  23rd  of  March 
(N.S.),  1601. 

Good  Mr  Halynes....Your  last  I  take  the  date  to  be  about  the  end  of 
February,  or  the  first  inst  with  you.  All  newes  here  have  been  of  the  late 
Essexical  Stirres  in  England.  The  States  of  Holland  do  take  that  Earles 
death  grievously,  some  have  written  from  thence  that  England  is  more 
bloody  than  all  the  world  besydes.  I  am  unwilling  to  wryte  what  else  they 
wryte  and  speake  as  it  soundeth  so  il  and  reprochful  to  that  country  and 
nation.  This  fal  of  the  Earle  of  Essex,  with  the  late  great  arrest  and  con- 
fiscating of  Hollanders  ships  and  goods  by  Spaine,  together  with  the  peace  of 
Savoy  are  three  things  that  concurring  at  once,  can  make  the  States  wel 
able  to  keep  their  countenance  from  laughing.... Many  are  of  opinion  and 
great  presumption  they  have  thereof  that  som  few  of  the  States  of  most 
secret  counsell  were  privy  to  the  Earl  of  Essex's  designe,  and  should  have 
concurred  to  his  assistance,  some  of  them  have  said  since  his  death  that  their 
very  patron  and  father  was  now  taken  away  by  the  bloody  axe  of  England, 
who,  if  he  had  prevailed,  would  never  have  abandoned  them. 

Yours,  J.  SAur:2 

The  Venetian  ambassador  in  Rome  wrote  to  the  Doge  on 
April  28th  (N.S.):  "I  am  informed  from  a  very  sure  quarter  that 
the  tumults  in  England,  which  have  cost  the  Earl  of  Essex  his 
head,  are  of  Spanish  intrigues."3 

In  his  chapter  on  "Impresses"  Camden  says,  referring  to  an 
earlier  occasion:  "Excellent  was  that  device  of  the  late  Lord  Essex, 
who,  when  he  was  cast  down  by  sorrow,  and  yet  to  be  employed 
in  arms,  wore  a  black  mourning  shield  without  any  figure  inscribed 
'Parnullafigura  Dolor'."4 

1  Cecil  Papers,  xcvn.  13.  z  Foreign  Correspondence,  Flanders,  I. 

3  Venetian  Papers,  ix.  4  Camden's  Remains,  1605. 


CHAPTER  XV 

CLEARING  UP 

THE  chief  offender  having  paid  the  extreme  penalty  of  his  audacity, 
the  Privy  Council  turned  to  minor  matters  and  smaller  men.  On 
February  26th  was  drawn  up  a  list1  of  the  prisoners  and  what 
course  to  be  taken  with  them:  "Persons  already  indicted  and  fit 
to  be  arraigned,  Sir  Christopher  Blunt,  Sir  Charles  Danvers,  Sir 
Gelly  Mericke,  Sir  John  Davies. . .  .Not  yet  indicted,  but  fit  to  be 
indicted,  five.  Already  indicted,  but  to  be  forborne  to  be  arraigned, 
but  to  be  fined,  16,"  among  whom  are  "Sir  Henry  Carew,  Sir 
Robert  Vernon,  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges,  Sir  Charles  Percy,  Sir 
Joscelin  Percy,  Robert  Catesby.  Attainted,  and  fit  to  be  executed  " 
(a  blank,  probably  intended  to  have  been  filled  with  the  name  of 
Southampton).  "Fit  to  be  forborne  from  being  indicted  but  yet 
to  be  fined,  1 6,"  among  whom  are  Francis  and  George  Manners, 
John  Vernon,  Sir  Edward  Littleton.  "To  be  discharged  without 
bonds,  without  indictment,  arraignment,  or  fines,  32,"  among  whom 
were  Edward  Throgmorton,  John  Vaughan,  John  Arden,  Francis 
Kinnersley.  "Such  as  were  in  the  action,  and  not  yet  taken, 
seven,"  among  whom  was  Sir  Christopher  Heydon.  "Fit  to  be 
kept  in  prison  without  indictment  or  any  other  prosecution  against 
them,  Francis  Smith,"  etc. 

On  the  2nd  of  March  Sir  John  Davies  wrote  to  Cecil  that  he 
had  not  had  the  help  he  expected  from  others,  but  to  him  he  owed 
everything,  "at  what  tyme  you  gave  order  unto  Sir  W.  Rawley 
that  if  I  were  endited,  that  it  should  be  stayed,  if  otherwise  that  it 
should  go  no  further."2  He  thanks  Cecil  warmly  and  offers  his 
faithful  service. 

On  the  same  day  Cecil  wrote  to  Mountjoy,  "The  man  that 
grieveth  me  to  think  what  may  become  of  him  is  the  poor  young 
Earl  of  Southampton."3  Then  he  uses  the  same  phrases  as  he  does 
in  the  following  letter. 

1  Cecil  Papers,  LXXXIII.  92.  *  Add.  MS.  6177/73. 

4  Irish  State  Papers,  evil.  p.  198,  also  D.S.S.P.  CCLXXVIII.  125. 


224     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

In  Cecil's  historical  letter  in  March  to  Sir  George  Carew, 
explaining  fully  the  course  of  events,  he  says  that  on  March  the 
5th  Sir  Christopher  Blount,  Sir  Charles  Danvers,  Sir  John  Davies, 
Sir  Gelly  Meyrick,  and  Henry  Cuffe  were  all  arraigned  and 
condemned.  "It  remayneth  now  that  I  lett  you  know  what  is  lyke 
to  become  of  the  poore  young  Earle  of  Southampton,  who,  meerely 
for  the  love  of  the  Earle  hath  been  drawen  into  this  action,  who, 
in  respect  that  most  of  the  conspiracies  were  at  Drury  House,  where 
he  was  always  cheefe,  and  where  Sir  Charles  Davers  laye,  those 
that  would  deale  for  him  (of  which  number  I  protest  to  God  I  am 
one,  as  far  as  I  dare)  are  much  disadvantaged  of  arguments  to  save 
him,  and  yet,  when  I  consider  how  penitent  he  is,  and  how  merciful 
the  Queen  is,  and  never  in  thought  or  deed,  but  in  this  conspiracy 
he  offended,  as  I  cannot  write  in  despaire,  so  I  dare  not  flatter 
myself  with  hope."1  He  helps  to  date  this  by  saying,  "three  or 
four  days  since  arrived  the  Earl  of  Mar,  ambassador  to  the  King 
of  Scots."  Writing  to  Winwood  on  March  yth,  he  says,  "yesterday 
here  arrived  Earl  of  Mar."2 

On  the  1 3th  of  March  Meyrick  and  Cuffe  suffered  at  Tyburn, 
and  two  days  afterwards  Sir  Christopher  Blount  and  Sir  Charles 
Danvers  were  beheaded  in  the  Tower3.  "Danvers  had  offered 
£i  0,000  to  redeem  his  life,  yet  with  a  most  quiet  mind  and  coun- 
tenance took  his  death  most  Christianly."  It  is  quite  possible  that 
he  was  comforted  by  thinking  that  if  he  died  for  the  Drury  House 
conspiracy,  it  would  give  his  friend  Southampton  a  better  chance  of 
escaping  (as  it  certainly  did). 

On  March  the  22nd  the  Council  indited  a  letter  to  Sir  John 
Peyton,  Lieutenant  of  the  Tower: 

Whereas  we  do  understand  that  the  Earl  of  Southampton,  by  reason  of 
the  continuance  of  his  quartern  ague,  hath  a  swelling  in  his  legges  and  other 
parts,  you  may  admytt  Doctor  Paddy,  who  is  acquainted  with,  the  state  of 
his  bodie,  in  your  presence  to  have  accesse  unto  him,  and  to  conferre  with 
him  for  those  things  that  shall  be  fitt  for  his  health4. 

It  seems  probable  that  "the  continuance"  of  Southampton's 
illness  had  finally  crushed  his  pride,  and  led  him  to  those  effusive 

1  Camden  Series,  82.    D.S.S.P.    Cecil  seems  to  forget  the  Queen's  wrath 
about  Southampton's  marriage  in  1598. 

2  Winwood,  Mem.  i.  299.  3  Camden's  Elizabeth,  bk.  iv.  p.  178 
4  Reg.  Privy  Council. 


xv]  CLEARING  UP  225 

petitions  and  confessions  which  are  entered  among  the  Salisbury 
Papers  as  "after  Feb.  igth  1600-1."  By  them  may  have  been  spread 
among  the  Lords  of  the  Council  the  opinion  of  his  "penitence," 
expressed  openly  by  Cecil  in  his  correspondence,  which  encouraged 
them  to  grant  him  this  degree  of  consideration — not  much  in 
itself,  it  is  true,  but  it  marks  the  beginning  of  the  turn  of  the 
tide1. 

Though  these  effusions  are  printed  in  extenso  already,  they  seem 
important  enough  to  be  repeated  here,  as  his  contribution  to  the 
story  of  the  previous  year  of  his  life2.  The  fourth  paper,  which 
appears  among  the  Salisbury  Papers  as  his  "Statement,"  I  shall 
contract,  as  the  facts  are  noted  elsewhere. 

At  an  uncertain  date,  but  entered  in  the  Salisbury  Papers,  vol.  xi. 
p.  72,  as  "after  Feb.  igth  1600-1,"  occurs  the  following: 

Henry  Earl  of  Southampton  to  the  Council 

My  Lordes, 

I  beseech  your  Lordships  bee  pleased  to  receaue  the  petition  of  a 
poore  condemned  man,  who  doth,  with  a  lowly  and  penitent  hart,  confess 
his  fautes  and  acknoledge  his  offences  to  her  Maiestie.  Remember,  I  pray 
your  Lordships,  that  the  longest  lyuer  amongest  men  hath  but  a  short  time 
of  continewance,  and  that  there  is  none  so  iust  vppon  earth  but  hath  a 
greater  account  to  make  to  our  creator  for  his  sinnes  then  any  offender  can 
haue  in  this  world.  Beleeue  that  God  is  better  pleased  with  those  that  are 
the  instrumentes  of  mercy  then  with  such  as  are  the  persuaders  of  severe 
iustice,  and  forgett  not  that  hee  hath  promised  mercy  to  the  mercifull. 

What  my  fawte  hath  been  your  Lordships  know  to  the  vttermost,  wherein, 
howsoeuer  I  have  offended  in  the  letter  of  the  law,  your  Lordships  I  thinke 
cannot  but  find,  by  the  proceedings  att  my  triall,  that  my  harte  was  free 
from  any  premeditate  treason  against  my  souerayne,  though  my  reason  was 
corrupted  by  affection  to  my  friend  (whom  I  thought  honest)  and  I  by  that 
caried  headlonge  to  my  mine,  without  power  to  preuent  it,  who  otherwise 
could  neuer  haue  been  induced  for  any  cawse  of  mine  owne  to  haue  hazarded 
her  Maiesties  displeasure  but  in  a  trifle :  yet  can  I  not  dispayre  of  her  fauor, 
nether  will  it  enter  into  my  thought  that  shee  who  hath  been  euer  so  re- 
nowned for  her  uertues,  and  especially  for  clemency,  will  not  extend  it  to 
mee,  that  doe  with  so  humble  and  greeued  a  spirit  prostrate  my  self  att  her 
royall  feete  and  craue  her  pardon.  O  lett  her  neuer  sufer  to  bee  spiled  the 
bloud  of  him  that  desiers  to  live  but  to  doe  her  sendee,  nor  loose  the  glory 
shee  shall  gaine  in  the  world  by  pardoninge  one  whose  harte  is  without 

1  Salisb.  Papers,  xi.  2  Camden  Series,  73,  app.  93-100. 

s.s.  15 


226     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

spott,  though  his  cursed  destiny  hath  made  his  actes  to  bee  condemned, 
and  whose  life,  if  it  please  her  to  graunte  it,  shallbe  eternally  redy  to  bee 
sacrifised  to  accomplish  her  least  comandement. 

My  lords,  there  are  diuers  amongest  you  to  whom  I  owe  particular  obli- 
gation for  your  fauors  past,  and  to  all  I  haue  euer  performed  that  respect 
which  was  fitt,  which  makes  me  bould  in  this  manner  to  importune  you, 
and  lett  not  my  faultes  now  make  me  seem  more  vnworthy  then  I  haue  been, 
but  rather  lett  the  misery  of  my  distressed  estate  moue  you  to  bee  a  mean 
to  her  Maiestie,  to  turne  away  her  heauy  indignation  from  mee.  O  lett  not 
her  anger  continew  towardes  an  humble  and  sorrowfull  man,  for  that  alone 
hath  more  power  to  dead  my  spirites  then  any  iron  hath  to  kill  my  flesh. 
My  sowle  is  heauy  and  trobled  for  my  offences,  and  I  shall  soon  grow  to 
detest  my  self  if  her  Maiestie  refuse  to  haue  compassion  of  mee.  The  law 
hath  hetherto  had  his  proceedinge,  wherby  her  Justice  and  my  shame  is 
sufficiently  published ;  now  is  the  time  that  mercy  is  to  be  shewed.  O  pray 
her  then,  I  beseech  your  lordships,  in  my  behalf  to  stay  her  hand,  and  stopp 
the  rigorus  course  of  the  law,  and  remember,  as  I  know  shee  will  neuer 
forgett,  that  it  is  more  honor  to  a  prince  to  pardon  one  penitent  offender, 
then  with  severity  to  punish  mayny. 

To  conclude,  I  doe  humbly  entreate  your  Lordships  to  sound  mercy  in 
her  eares,  that  therby  her  harte,  which  I  know  is  apt  to  receaue  any  impression 
of  good,  may  be  moued  to  pity  mee,  that  I  may  Hue  to  loose  my  life  (as 
I  have  been  euer  willing  and  forward  to  venture  it)  in  her  service,  as  your 
lordships  herein  shall  effect  a  worke  of  charity,  which  is  pleasinge  to  God ; 
preserue  an  honest-harted  man  (howsoeuer  now  his  fautes  haue  made  him 
seem  otherwise)  to  his  contry;  winn  honor  to  yourselues,  by  fauoringe  the 
distressed;  and  saue  the  bloud  of  one  who  will  Hue  and  dy  her  Maiesties 
faythfull  and  loyall  subiect. 

Thus,  recommendinge  my  self  and  my  sute  to  your  Lordships'  honorable 
considerations;  beseechinge  God  to  moue  you  to  deale  effectually  for  mee, 
and  to  inspire  her  Maiesties  royall  harte  with  the  spirite  of  mercy  and 
compassion  towardes  mee,  I  end,  remayninge, 

Your  Lordships  most  humbly,  of  late  Southampton,  but  now  of  all  men 
most  vnhappy, 

H.  WRIOTHESLEY. 

At  an  uncertain  date,  but  entered  in  the  Salisbury  Papers,  vol.  xi. 
p.  72,  as  "after  Feb.  igth  1600-1"  occurs  the  "Confession  of 
Henry,  Earl  of  Southampton."1 

Att  my  first  comminge  out  of  Ireland  and  vppon  the  committment  of 
my  Lord  of  Essex,  my  Lord  Mountioy  came  to  my  lodginge  to  Essex  howse, 
where  he  tould  mee  that  hee  had  before  his  cominge  foreseen  his  ruine,  and 

1  Correspondence  of  James  VI  of  Scotland,  ed.  Bruce,  p.  96. 


xv]  CLEARING  UP  227 

desieringe  to  saue  him  if  it  mought  bee,  had  sent  a  messenger  to  the  King 
of  Skottes  to  wish  him  to  bethinke  him  self,  and  not  suffer,  if  hee  could 
hinder  it,  the  gouerment  of  this  state  to  bee  wholy  in  the  handes  of  his 
ennimies;  and  if  hee  would  resolue  of  any  thinge  that  was  fitt,  he  should 
find  him  forward  to  doe  him  right,  as  farr  as  he  mought  with  a  safe  conscience 
and  his  duty  reserued  to  her  Maiestie;  that  hee  expected,  within  a  while 
after,  to  receaue  answer,  which  when  he  did  I  should  know  it.  Not  long 
after  hee  towld  mee  hee  had  heard  from  him,  and  shewed  mee  a  lettre 
which  hee  sent  him,  wherin  was  nothinge  but  complimentes,  allowinge  of 
his  reseruations,  and  referringe  him  for  the  matter  to  the  bearer,  who 
deliuered  unto  him  that  the  King  would  think  of  it,  and  putt  himself  in  a 
rediness  to  take  any  good  occation;  whereuppon  hee  sent  him  againe  with 
this  proiect,  that  hee  should  prepare  an  army  att  a  conuenient  time,  declare 
his  intent,  that  hee  would  bee  redy  to  assist  him  with  the  army  in  Ireland, 
whether  hee  was  goinge,  and  mought  for  the  healfe  of  those  doe  that  which 
was  fitt  in  establishinge  such  a  course  as  should  bee  best  for  our  contry; 
houldinge  euer  his  former  reseruations.  Att  this  time  I  lykewise  wrote  a 
lettre  to  the  Kyng  professinge  my  self  to  be  willinge  to  doe  him  sendee,  as 
farr  as  I  mought  with  my  alleageance  to  her  Majestic,  and  by  the  messengers 
sent  him  woord  that  in  this  course  I  would  assist  him  with  my  endeauors 
and  my  person. 

To  this  dispach  wee  receaued  no  answer  duringe  the  time  of  his  aboade 
heare;  but  within  a  while  after,  the  messenger  returned,  and  brought  for 
answer  that  he  lyked  the  course  well,  and  would  prepare  him  self  for  it; 
but  the  yeare  growinge  on,  and  it  beeinge  thought  by  Sir  Charles  Danvers 
that  the  army  of  Ireland  would  suffice  alone,  I  made  my  Lord  of  Essex 
acquainted  by  lettres,  hee  beeinge  then  att  Essex  howse,  what  had  been  doon, 
and  that  opinion  hee  allowed  of,  and  it  was  resolued  that  I  should  breake 
the  matter  to  my  Lord  Mountioy  att  my  cominge  into  Ireland,  which 
I  did,  and  hee  vtterly  rejected  it  as  a  thinge  which  hee  could  no  way  thinke 
honest,  and  diswaded  mee  from  thinkinge  of  any  more  such  courses,  which 
resolution  I  toke  and  wrote  ouer  to  Sir  Charles  Danvers  heere  what  I  fownd, 
and  that  I  had  geeuen  ouer  thinkinge  of  such  matters;  wheruppon,  willinge 
to  spend  my  time  in  her  Majesties  sendee,  to  redeem  the  fault  I  had  made 
in  thinkinge  that  which  mought  bee  offensiue  to  her,  I  was  desierus  to  seat 
my  self  in  Ireland,  so  that  the  Deputy  makinge  a  motion  to  mee  to  stand 
for  the  gouerment  of  Conagh,  I  desiered  that  hee  would  moue  it,  meaninge, 
if  I  could  obtayne  it,  to  settle  there;  which  beeinge  denied  mee,  and  I 
vnable  to  lyue  att  so  great  a  charge  as  I  could  not  chuse  but  bee  att  there, 
I  resolued  presently  to  go  into  [the]  Low  Countries,  leauinge  him,  and 
parttinge  my  self  without  any  imagination  (as  I  protest  before  God)  to  thinke 
any  more  of  any  matters  of  that  nature,  but  resoluinge  to  take  my  fortune 
as  it  should  fall  out,  and  as  by  my  meritt  hir  Majestic  should  hould  me 
worthy;  or,  if  the  woorst  happined,  that  her  Majestic  should  continew  her 

15—2 


228     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH, 

displeasure  against  mee,  which  I  hoped  would  not  [be],  to  retire  my  self  into 
the  contry,  and  liue  quietly  and  pray  for  her.  I  doe  protest  also  before  God, 
I  left  the  Deputy,  as  I  thought  and  so  I  assure  my  self,  resolued  to  doe  her 
Majestic  the  best  seruice  hee  could,  and  repentinge  that  hee  had  euer 
thought  that  which  mought  offend  her. 

I  went  into  the  Low  Contries  with  that  mind,  and  so  continewed  vntill, 
a  few  dayes  before  my  comminge  thence,  Mr  Littleton  came  to  mee,  as  he 
sayed  from  my  Lord  of  Essex,  and  towld  mee  that  hee  was  resolued  on  the 
course  which  is  confessed  for  his  coming  to  the  courte;  att  the  hearinge  of 
which  I  protest  before  the  Majestic  of  God  I  was  much  trobled  in  my 
harte,  yet  because  hee  protested  in  it  all  sincerely  and  loyally  to  her  Majestic, 
I  sent  him  woord  that  I  would  att  any  time  venture  both  my  fortune  and 
life  for  him,  with  any  thinge  that  was  honest.  Vppon  my  first  seeinge  him 
hee  confirmed  as  much,  and  what  passed  afterward  concerninge  that  I  nead 
not  speak  of,  it  beeinge  so  well  knowen. 

Mr  Littleton  lykewise  towld  mee  that  Sir  Charles  Danvers  was  sent  into 
Ireland  by  my  Lord  of  Essex  to  perswade  my  Lord  Mountjoy  to  write  a 
lettre  to  him  wherin  hee  should  complaine  of  the  ill  gouerment  of  the 
state,  and  to  wishe  that  some  course  mought  be  taken  to  remooue  from  about 
her  Majesties  person  those  which  weare  bad  instrumentes,  protesting  that 
it  should  neuer  bee  knowen  till  hee  had  been  with  her  Majestic  and  satisfied 
her  of  his  intent,  and  then  hee  would  shew  it  her,  that  shee  mought  see  that 
not  only  him  self,  who  perhappes  shee  would  thinke  desiered  it  by  reason 
of  his  discontentmentes  and  priuate  offences,  but  also  those  that  weare  in 
good  estat  and  in  her  fauor,  wished  to.  I  then  towld  him  that  I  did  not 
thinke  my  Lord  Deputy  would  doe  it,  for  I  lett  him  know  how  I  left  him, 
and  that  I  did  not  thinke  there  was  any  spiritt  in  him  to  such  a  course. 
Within  a  while  after  I  came  into  England,  Sir  Charles  Danvers  returned, 
and  towld  me  that  hee  fownd  my  Lord  Deputy  much  against  any  such 
course,  and  that  hee  had  sett  his  hart  only  vppon  followinge  of  the  Queen's 
seruice,  and  thought  not  of  any  such  matters;  but  if  he  would  neades  runn 
that  course  (which  hee  did  not  lyke  and  gaue  him  [for]  lost  in)  hee  should 
send  him  woord,  and  hee  would  write  to  him;  this  hee  towld  mee  hee 
yealded  to  very  vnwillingly,  and  withall  towld  him,  that  if  any  there  of  his 
followers  would  goe  ouer,  hee  would  not  hinder  them. 

For  that  which  was  proiected  for  my  Lord  of  Essex  eskape  out  of  my 
Lord  Kepers  house,  I  protest  before  God  I  alwayes  diswaded  from  it;  and 
the  same  eueninge  before,  not  three  howers  before  it  should  have  been 
attempted,  I  protested  against  it  vnder  my  hand,  and  so  brake  it,  incurringe 
much  imputation  amongest  them  for  want  of  affection  to  my  Lord,  and 
slackness  to  doe  him  good. 

This  haue  I  sett  down  all  trewly  as  I  can  remember  it,  without  ether 
wronging  any  or  fauoringe  my  self;  and  will  only  conclud  with  this,  that  I 
protest  before  the  Almighty  God  I  neuer  sett  any  of  these  thinges  on  foote» 


xv]  CLEARING  UP  229 

or  beeinge  proiected  did  instigate  any  to  folow  them,  nor  neuer  bare  disloyall 
or  vnreuerent  hart  to  her  Majestic,  but  was  drawen  into  them  meerly  by 
my  affection  to  my  Lord  of  Essex,  whom  I  thought  honest  to  her  and  to 
her  state;  and,  had  I  not  been  inuited  when  I  was  in  the  Low  Gentries  to 
this  last  woorke,  for  which  I  was  directly  sent  by  my  Lord  of  Essex,  the 
world  should  haue  wittnessed  with  me  the  duty  I  had  borne  to  her  Majestic, 
and  I  did  not  then  doute  but  with  my  honest  endeuors  in  her  sendee  in 
few  yeares  to  haue  deserued  forgiueness  of  my  former  offensiue  thoughtes, 
which  I  am  now  by  my  accursed  fortune  cutt  off  from.  I  doe  therfore  now 
prostrate  my  self  att  her  Majesties  princely  feete,  with  a  trew  penitent 
sowle  for  my  fautes  past,  with  horror  in  my  conscience  for  my  offences,  and 
detestation  of  mine  owne  life  if  it  bee  displeasinge  vnto  her.  I  doe  with  all 
humility  craue  her  pardon.  The  shedinge  of  my  bloud  can  no  way  auayle 
her;  my  life,  if  it  please  her  to  graunt,  shall  euer  bee  redy  to  be  lost  in  her 
sendee,  and,  lett  my  sowle  haue  no  place  in  Heauen,  if  euer  I  harbour 
thought  in  my  harte  which  I  shall  thinke  may  bee  any  way  offensiue  vnto 
her,  but  remayne  to  the  end  of  my  dayes  as  honest  and  faythfull  a  subiect 
vnto  her  as  is  in  the  world;  and  I  doe  on  the  knees  of  my  hart  beseech  her 
Majestic  not  to  imagen  that  these  are  the  wordes  of  a  condemned  man, 
who,  fearinge  death,  would  promise  any  thinge,  and  afterward,  beeinge  free, 
would  as  soon  forgett  it.  O,  no!  The  world  will  wittness  with  mee,  that 
in  her  sendee  I  haue  geuen  sufficient  testemony,  more  then  once,  that 
I  feare  nether  death  nor  danger,  but  they  are  protestations  that  proceed 
from  the  honest  harte  of  a  penitent  offender.  O,  the  Kinge  of  Heauen  hath 
promised  forgiueness  of  their  sinnes  that  with  sorrow  and  fayth  aske  pardon, 
and  I  that  doe  know  her  Majestic  to  be  gratius,  and  doe  with  soe  greiued  a 
mind  begg  forgiueness,  cannot  dispayre  but  hope  that  the  God  of  Mercy, 
who  doth  neuer  shutt  his  eares  to  the  afflicted  that  cry  unto  him,  howsoeuer 
they  haue  offended,  nor  is  euer  weary  of  beeinge  compassionate  to  those 
which  vnfaynedly  repent  and  call  to  him  for  grace,  and  hath  promised 
forgiueness  of  sinnes  to  those  that  forgeeue  in  this  world,  will  moue  her 
Majestic  to  pyty  mee,  that  I  may  lyve  to  make  the  world  know  her  great 
merritt  and  seme  her;  for  whom  I  will  euer  pray  and  lyue  and  dy  her  humble 
loyall  and  faythfull  vassall. 

[Unsigned] 

There  bee  two  thinges  which  I  haue  forgotten  to  sett  in  their  right 
places,  your  Lordship  must  bee  therfore  pleased  to  take  them  in  this  post- 
script. One  is,  that  not  longe  before  the  day  of  our  misfortune  my  Lord  of 
Essex  towld  mee  that  Sir  Henry  Neuill,  that  was  to  goe  embassador  into 
Fraunce,  was  a  man  wholy  att  his  deuotion,  and  desiered  to  runn  the  same 
fortune  with  him,  and  therfore  hee  towld  mee  that  hee  would  appoint  him 
to  come  to  my  lodginge  in  Drury  House,  and  I  should  make  him  acquainted 
with  his  porpose  of  goinge  to  the  Courte,  which  I  did  ackordingly,  after 
this  manner;  I  towld  him  that  I  vnderstood  by  Cuff  (who  had  lykewise  made 


230     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

mee  know  his  disposition)  that  hee  had  deuoted  him  selfe  to  my  Lord  of 
Essex,  and  that  hee  desiered  to  engadge  him  self  in  any  thinge  wherby  his 
fortune  mought  bee  re-established.  If  it  weare  so,  I  had  somewhat  to  say 
to  him  from  my  Lord  of  Essex,  and  therfore  wished  him  to  lett  mee  know 
his  mind.  Hee  answered  mee,  that  what  Mr  Cuff  had  sayed  hee  would 
performe,  therfore  desiered  mee  to  say  on.  So  I  deliuered  vnto  him  what 
my  Lord  of  Essex  intended,  which  hee  allowed  of,  and  concluded  that  when 
hee  should  bee  appointed,  hee  would  bee  att  the  Courte  before,  to  gyue 
him  fartherance  with  himself  and  his  people.  The  other  is:  that  not  longe 
agoe  my  Lord  of  Essex  wrote  to  the  King  of  Skottes  which  hee  shewed  mee, 
of  three  sides  of  paper  and  more,  the  effect  of  which  as  I  remember  was, 
to  discredite  the  faction  (as  he  termed  it)  contrary  vnto  him,  and  to  entreate 
him  to  send  hether  the  Earle  of  Marr  with  commandement  to  folow  those 
directions  which  hee  should  geeue,  and  with  all  in  what  woordes  hee  should 
geeue  him  notice  if  hee  would  performe  it,  which  he  receaued,  and  that 
was  it  he  ware  in  the  blak  purse  about  his  necke.  He  drew  also,  as  he  towld 
mee,  instructions  for  him  against  his  cominge,  but  I  neuer  saw  them.  This 
haue  you,  I  protest  before  God,  all  that  I  remember,  or  doe  know,  wherin 
I  once  again  beseech  your  Lordship  to  marke,  that  I  haue  neuer  been  mouer 
nor  instigator  of  any  of  these  thinges,  but  drawen  into  them  by  my  best 
frendes. 

At  an  uncertain  date,  but  entered  in  the  Salisbury  Papers,  vol.  xi, 
p.  72,  as  "after  Feb.  igth  1600-1"  occurs  the  following: 
Henry,  Earl  of  Southampton  to  Sir  Robert  Cecil. 

Sir,  because  I  receaued  a  charge  from  you  and  the  rest  of  the  Lords, 
when  I  last  spake  with  you,  that  I  should  conceale  the  matter  which  was 
in  hand,  I  thought  fitt  to  acquaynt  you  with  what  I  fownd  this  morninge 
by  the  Lieuetenant,  who,  talkinge  with  mee,  made  me  see  that  he  knew  as 
much  as  I  could  tell  him.  From  whence  hee  had  it  I  know  not,  but  I  protest 
before  God  I  haue  trewly  obayed  your  commandement,  and  haue  not 
opened  my  mouth  of  it  to  any,  nor  say  this  to  bring  blame  vppon  any,  but 
only  to  free  my  self  from  imputation. 

But  now,  seeinge  my  cheef  hope  is  in  your  desier  to  effect  my  good,  next 
vnto  the  fauor  of  God  and  the  mercy  of  her  Majestic,  I  cannot  but  remember 
you  of  thease  particulers,  which  before  I  had  forgotten.  First  that  the 
owld  matter,  as  soon  as  I  could  acquaynt  my  Lord  of  Essex  with  it,  I  did, 
lettinge  him  know  that  it  was  only  thought  of  in  respect  of  him,  and  how 
that  without  his  approbation  it  should  bee  desisted,  in  which  he  was  so 
farr  from  diswadinge  that  he  gaue  mee  the  directions  I  haue  made  knowen. 
Then,  the  thought  of  that  beeinge  abandoned,  hee  sent  directly  for  mee 
into  the  Low  Countries,  lettinge  me  know,  before  my  opinion  was  asked, 
that  hee  had  resolued  it.  Lastly,  to  make  you  see  that  I  was  neuer  willing 


xvj  CLEARING  UP  231 

to  stirr  in  these  thinges,  thise  same  morninge  the  matter  happned  between 
my  Lord  Grey  and  mee,  I  telling  him  that  I  thought,  in  respect  the  thinge 
was  so  notorius,  the  counsell  would  take  notice  of  it,  and  send  for  mee 
aboute  it,  he  answered  me  that  it  was  lyke  enough,  but  if  they  did  without 
question  it  was  but  a  collor  to  lay  handes  of  mee,  and  therfore  wished  me 
not  to  goe;  to  which  I  replied,  that  he  should  not  enter  into  any  violent 
course  for  mee,  for  I  knew  I  had  made  no  fawte,  and  I  would  trust  in  the 
iustice  of  the  state;  so,  beeinge  sent  for,  I  only  tooke  two  with  mee  and 
went.  Now,  out  of  thease  circumstances,  I  beseech  you  make  your  coniecture, 
whether  I  was  likely  to  bee  an  instigator  in  these  businesses.  For  this  that 
I  haue  sett  down,  I  protest  before  God  is  trew,  and  I  doe  rely  so  much 
vppon  your  fauor  that  I  doute  not  but  you  will  make  vse  of  them  for  my 
aduantage,  and  I  shall  continew  bound  vnto  you,  as  I  protest  I  doe  account 
my  self  alredy,  more  then  to  any  man  lyuinge,  which  whether  I  Hue  or  dy 
I  make  the  world  know  to  your  honor.  I  beseech  you  pardon  the  bad  writinge 
of  this,  for  I  write  in  hast1. 

The  statement,  "according  to  commandment,"  tells  the 
story  of  the  incident  in  Dublin  Castle2,  when  Essex  took  him 
to  the  room  where  Sir  Christopher  Blount,  his  stepfather,  lay 
wounded.  He  there  proposed  to  take  a  part  of  the  army  back  with 
him,  but  both  Blount  and  Southampton  advised  him  against  this, 
and  he  gave  it  up.  But  he  was  determined  to  come  over,  so  both 
of  them  advised  him  "to  go  well  attended  to  secure  himself  from 
private  enemies...  if  his  life  were  in  danger  he  knew  there  was 
none  of  us  but  would  adventure  ours  to  save  him."  Southampton 
had  been  within  sight,  but  not  within  hearing,  of  the  conference 
with  Tyrone;  but  Essex  told  him  afterwards  some  of  the  points 
discussed.  Tyrone  had  tempted  him  to  leave  the  Queen's  service, 
but  Essex  rejected  the  notion.  Essex  knew  nothing  of  Tom  Lea's 
going  to  Tyrone  before.  "Of  some  part  of  this  Sir  Christopher 
Blunt  was  a  witness,  who  though  the  world  knows  he  never  loved 
me,  yet  do  I  beseech  your  honour  and  Mr  H.  [?]  that  he  may  be 
asked  of  it,  and  I  doubt  not  but  for  the  truth's  sake  he  will  confirm 
and  make  you  see  how  much  I  did  detest  it.  For  the  rest,  I  can 
produce  no  testimony,  only  God  knows  my  heart  that  I  lie  not 
I  had  resolved  that  whatsoever  concerned  her  Majestic  I  would 
have  revealed,  and  he  [BlountJ  had  only  the  start  of  me  by  reason 

1  Correspondence  of  James  VI  of  Scotland,  ed.  Bruce,  Camd.  Soc.  p.  95. 

2  Cecil  Papers,  LXXXIV.  10. 


232     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

he  spake  first  with  you."  He  says  that  if  he  had  only  been  allowed 
to  live  in  her  Majesty's  presence  this  evil  would  never  have  come 
to  him.  His  heart  had  never  been  cankered  with  a  disloyal  thought 
and  he  hopes  she  will  forgive  him. 

The  allusion  to  Sir  Christopher  Blount  shews  that  he  was  still 
alive;  therefore  the  "statement"  must  have  been  made  before  the 
1 5th  of  March — probably,  indeed,  after  the  5th  of  March — when 
Blount  was  tried.  It. is  evident  that  the  most  important  part  of  his 
information  concerned  Lord  Mountjoy.  This  was  probably  the 
secret  part  that  he  was  told  not  to  speak  of.  For  the  Councillors 
were  in  a  difficulty.  Here  was  a  man  definitely  concerned  with 
Essex's  discontent^  yet  who  was  acting  as  his  successor  and  was 
actually  the  representative  of  her  Majesty  in  Ireland!  They  could 
not  recal  him  without  damaging  English  prestige;  it  was  evident 
that  he  had  repented  when  he  was  put  in  trust,  and  they  wisely 
determined  to  ignore  the  past,  being  sure  that  he  would  be  doubly 
dutiful,  to  save  the  risks  of  examination  and  recal.  Hence  the  Earl 
of  Nottingham  was  able  to  write  to  him  encouragingly  about  the 
prospects  of  Southampton,  as  both  he  and  Sir  Robert  Cecil  were 
earnestly  working  in  his  favour — "  we  use  all  our  power  and  wits 
for  it."1 

The  arrest  of  Sir  Henry  Neville,  as  he  was  returning  to  France2, 
was  a  great  distress  to  his  assistant  and  coadjutor,  Mr  Ralph  Win- 
wood,  who  wrote  to  him  on  February  iyth  that  the  French  King 
had  told  him  of  the  rising  of  Essex  and  Southampton,  but  he  added 
that  he  would  wait  to  believe  it  until  Neville  himself  gave  him 
information.  Neville  was  silent.  Cecil  told  Winwood  the  bare 
official  truth,  and  on  iyth  March  Winwood  again  wrote  to  his 
chief  a  sympathetic  and  trustful  letter,  saying  that  he  knew  his 
loyalty  to  the  Queen  and  country.  There  are  many  more  letters 
of  Winwood  in  a  volume  of  Foreign  Correspondence  at  the 
Record  Office3.  Sir  Robert  Cecil  put  all  his  strength  forth  to  save 
his  cousin  Neville. 

It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  the  Privy  Council  would 
neglect  to  seize  the  available  property  of  the  chief  conspirators.  On 

1  Spedding's  Bacon,  I.  411. 

2  State  Papers,  Foreign  News  Letters,  France,  ix. 

3  Foreign  Correspondence,  45. 


xv]  CLEARING  UP  233 

February  I3th  they  entered  "The  property  to  be  seized  Bever 
Castle  of  the  Earl  of  Rutland,  Chartley  of  the  Earl  of  Essex,  the 
houses  of  the  Earl  of  Southampton,  the  one  called  The  V'tne^  the 
other  [?]  "*.  Some  mistake  lay  here — "The  Vine"  never  belonged  to 
Southampton.  A  seizure  was  made  of  his  horses,  for  some  of  which 
an  innkeeper  made  a  heavy  charge  for  feeding2.  His  trustees  were 
closely  examined  as  to  his  financial  affairs3;  and  an  enquiry  was 
made  whether  the  Earls  of  Essex,  Southampton,  or  Rutland  had 
held  any  lands  in  the  Cinque  Ports,  March  I3th4.  The  Earl  of 
Essex's  family  were  left  in  destitution. 

As  soon  as  the  Privy  Council  felt  safe  by  the  apprehension  of 
the  chief  offenders,  they  turned  their  attention  towards  possible 
mercy,  in  order  to  ingratiate  themselves  with  the  people.  This 
rarely  meant  politic  mercy,  as  in  the  case  of  Mountjoy,  who  was 
needed  where  he  was;  or  even  compassionate  mercy,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  Earl  of  Southampton.  It  in  general  expressed  itself  as 
mercantile  mercy,  measured  in  proportion,  not  to  the  degree  of 
the  offender's  guilt,  but  of  his  capacity  to  pay. 

As  early  as  February  23rd  Thomas  Scriven,  the  family  steward5, 
conveyed  to  Mr  John  Manners  (the  uncle  of  the  Earl  of  Rutland) 
his  hope  for  his  master's  life.  He  knew  that  a  fine  was  certain, 
rated  at  that  date  at  £30,000,  but  he  hoped  that  amount  might  be 
reduced. 

On  the  27 th  May,  1601,  John  Chamberlain  wrote  to  Dudley 
Carleton : 

Sir  Harry  Neville  is  in  the  Tower,  which  at  first  made  many  men  think 
he  should  come  to  his  answer,  but  this  whole  term  having  past  without  any 
arraignment,  makes  me  think  there  shall  be  no  more  blood  drawn  in  this 
cause.  The  rather  for  there  is  a  commission  to  certain  of  the  counsaile  to 
ransome  and  fine  the  Lords  and  Gentlemen  that  were  in  the  action,  and 
have  already  rated  Rutland  at  £30,000,  Bedford  at  £20,000,  Sands  at  £10,000, 
Mounteagle  at  £8000,  and  Cromwell  at  £6000,  Catesby  at  4000  marks, 
Tresham  at  3000  marks,  Percies  and  Manners  at  £500  and  500  marks,  the 
rest  at  other  summes....Our  two  new  Knights  of  the  Garter,  the  Erie  of 
Darbie  and  the  Lord  Burghley  were  installed  yesterday  at  Windsor.  Anthony 

1  Reg.  Privy  Council. 

2  Accounts  Exchequer,  K.  R.,  Bdle  522,  no.  n. 

3  D.S.S.P.  CCLXXIX.  91. 

*  MSS.  of  the  Corporation  of  Rye.  Hist.  MSS.  Com.  Rep.  xm.  app.  iv. 
p.  123.  *  Belvoir  Papers,  xiv.  366. 


234     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON    [CH.  xv 

Bacon  has  died  so  deep  in  debt  that  his  brother  Francis  is  little  the  better 
by  him1. 

By  June  loth  these  fines  were  mitigated  in  some  cases: 

Fynes  imposed  on  the  noblemen  and  other  confederates  in  the  late 
rebellion.  The  Earl  of  Rutland  £30,000  to  £20,000,  the  Earl  of  Bedford 
£20,000  to  £10,000,  Baron  Sandys  £10,000 — £5000,  Baron  Cromwell 
£5000  to  £2000,  Lord  Mounteagle  £8000  to  £4000,  Sir  Charles  Percy  £500, 
Sir  Joscelin  Percy  £500,  Sir  Henry  Gary  400  marks — 200  marks,  Sir  Robert 
Vernon  500  marks — £100,  Sir  William  Constable  300  m.  £100,  Robert 
Catesby  4000  marks,  Francis  Tresham  3000  m.  Francis  Manners  400  m.  Sir 
George  Manners  400  m.  Sir  Thomas  West  1000  m.  Gray  Bridges  looo  m. 
Sir  Edward  Middleton  500  m. — £200,  Thomas  Crompton  £400,  Walter 
Walsh  £4002. 

On  June  a6th  there  is  a  note  that  the  Earl  of  Bedford,  being 
urged  to  make  speedy  payment,  begs  leave  to  be  allowed  to  pay  in 
instalments.  He  also  entreats  the  Queen  to  aid  him  in  his  efforts 
to  do  so3. 

There  also  appears  in  the  Salisbury  Papers  the  following  entry: 
"Persons  living  that  are  condemned,  the  Earl  of  Southampton, 
Sir  John  Davys,  Sir  Edward  Baynham,  John  Littleton."4  None  of 
these  were  executed — Sir  John  Davies  probably  from  policy;  John 
Littleton  died  of  illness.  It  went  hard  with  Southampton  also. 

1  D.S.S.P.  CCLXXIX.  91.  2  Ibid.  106.  3  Ibid.  121. 

*  Salisb.  Papers,  xi.  86,  214.    Cecil  Papers,  LXXXIV.  5,  and  ibid.  23. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

A  LAMPOON  OF  THE  DAY 
1601 

A  REMARKABLE  metrical  effusion  without  title  or  date  is  preserved 
in  the  special  volume  of  State  Papers  which  contains  the  records 
of  the  conspiracy  and  trial1.  The  only  allusion  to  authorship  lies 
in  the  words  "our  men  lost  the  day,"  so  that  it  must  have  been 
written  by  a  sympathiser  with  Essex  who  had  managed  to  escape 
capture.  It  is  not  of  a  nature  to  have  been  safely  printed  then,  but 
it  is  probable  that  many  MS.  copies  spread.  There  have  been 
preserved  two  copies  at  least  among  the  State  Papers,  and  I  have 
discovered  another  among  the  Harleian  MSS.2  in  a  volume  which 
the  Calendar  seems  to  have  entered  as  collected  by  the  third  Randle 
Holmes  as  a  book  of  "Songs  and  Sonnets."  These  were  considered 
to  be  too  inferior  to  be  worth  fuller  description  than  "Epitaphs, 
Lampoons  and  Satires."  This  rescension  contains  some  variant 
readings,  so  I  shall  distinguish  the  three  copies  by  A,  B,  and  C,  and 
number  the  verses,  to  make  clear  my  elucidation  of  their  meanings. 
This  c  lampoon '  was  copied  many  years  ago  for  Dr  Brandl,  and  it 
appeared  in  the  volume  of  the  Shakespeare  'Jahrbuch  for  1910. 

It  is  probably,  in  all  three  cases,  incomplete,  as  certain  names 
are  omitted  which  would  naturally  have  been  included  in  one  or 
other  of  the  groups. 

I 

Chamberlin,  Chamberlin 

hees  of  hir  graces  Hnne 

foole  hath  he  euer  bin 

with  his  Joane  silverpin 
She  makes  his  cockescombe  thin 

and  quakes  in  euerie  limme 

quicksilver  is  in  his  head 

but  his  wit's  dull  as  lead — 
Lord  for  thy  pittie. 

1  D.S.S.P.  CCLXXVIII.  23.  *  Harl.  MS.  2127,  f.  34. 

3  A  shakes. 


236     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

II 

partie  beard  was  aferd 
when  they  rann  at  the  heard 
the  Raine  deer  was  imbost 
the  white  doe  shee  was  loste 
pembrooke  strooke  her  downe 
and  tooke  her  from  the  clowne 
Lord  for  thy  pittie. 

Ill 

litell  Cecill  tripps  up  and  downe 
he  rules  boet  court  &  croune 
with  his  brother  Burlie  clowne 
in  his  great  fox-furred  gowne 
with  the  long  proclamation 
hee  swore1  hee  sav'd  the  towne 
is  it  not  likelie  ? 


IV2 

Bedford  hee  ranne  awaie 
when  ower  men  lost  the  daie 
so  't  is  assigned 
except  his  fine  dancing  Dame 
do  their  hard  hartes  tame 
and  swear  it  is  a  shame 
fooles  should  bee  fined. 


litell  Graie,  litell  Graie 

(made  a  souldier  in  the  month  of  Mate)3 
hee  made  a  Ladies  fraie 
turned  his  heeles*  and  ranne  awaie 
yet  must  hee  be  advanc't  they  saie5 
for  to  bear  some  swaie 
Lord  for  thy  pittie. 

1  C  saith.  2  This  verse  follows  the  next  in  C. 

*  This  line  only  in  C  copy.  4  C  borne  aboute. 

5  C  as  men  say. 


xvij  A  LAMPOON  OF  THE  DAY  237 

VI 

foulke  and  John,  foulke  and  John 
you  two  shall  rise  anon 
when  greater1  men  bee  gon 
you  two  can  prie  as  farre 
where  honors  fined2  are 
as  any  man  of  warre 
(yfnon  your  hands  doe  barr)3 
Lord  for  thy  pittie. 

VII 

Rawleigh  doth  time  bestride 
he  sits*  twixt  winde  and  tide 
yet  uppe  hill  hee  cannot  ride, 
for  all  his  bloodie  pride, 
hee  seeks  taxes  in  the  tinne 
hee  powles5  the  poor  to  the  skinne 
yet  hee  sweares6  tis  no  sinne 
Lord  for  thy  pittie. 

It  would  be  impossible  in  notes  to  give  even  the  little  I  know 
of  the  inner  meanings  of  these  lines,  so  I  must  arrange  some  facts 
under  reference  to  each  verse.  The  thin  veil  of  mystery  must  have 
been  transparent  to  contemporaries.  In  some  cases  I  can  pierce  this 
to  some  extent,  in  others  I  can  only  suggest  a  possible  explanation. 
No.  I  refers  to  "Chamberlain."  This,  of  course,  means  George 
Carey,  who  had  succeeded  his  father  as  second  Lord  Hunsdon  on 
22nd-23rd  July,  1596,  and  as  Lord  Chamberlain  in  March, 
1596-7.  His  family  was  related  to  Elizabeth;  hence  there  is  some 
disrespect  to  the  Queen  herself  implied  in  the  words, 

of  hir  graces  kinne 
foole  hath  he  euer  bin. 

His  health  had  always  been  uncertain,  and  in  later  years  he 
suffered  from  palsy.  The  uncomplimentary  suggestion  that  his  wife 
was  shrewish  I  cannot  corroborate.  He  had  married  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  Sir  John  Spencer  of  Althorpe,  a  patron  of  the  poet 
Spenser,  who  claimed  kinship  with  her. 

1  B  wiser.  *  C  riffeled. 

3  Extra  line  C.  «  C  lyeth. 

5  C  strips.  •  C  saith. 


238     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

There  is  no  allusion  here  to  Lord  Hunsdon's  company  of  players, 
of  which  Shakespeare  was  a  member. 

No.  II  has  had  an  undue  prominence  given  to  it  of  late  years 
through  having  been  confusedly  seized  by  the  advocates  of  the 
Herbert-Fitton  theory  of  the  Sonnets.  Though  not  nearly  so  clear 
in  its  subject  as  No.  I,  I  have  no  doubt  that  "partie  beard"  meant 
Sir  William  Knollys,  who,  having  been  born  in  1547,  may  be 
supposed  to  have  had  a  beard  streaked  with  grey.  He  was  the  uncle 
of  the  Earl  of  Essex,  and  was  supposed  not  to  have  done  all  he 
could  for  his  unfortunate  nephew.  He  had  reason  to  be  "aferd,"  on 
some  unspecified  occasion,  "when  they  rann  at  the  heard,"  which 
evidently  means  the  Queen's  maids  of  honour,  and  refers  to  the 
great  scandal  case  of  the  day.  These  ladies  on  June  I4th,  1600, 
at  the  marriage  of  "the  other  Lord  Herbert"1  to  Mrs  Anne  Russell, 
had  performed  a  masque  of  the  eight  muses  seeking  the  ninth.  Their 
names  were  "My  Ladie  Dorothy,  Mrs  Fitton,  Mrs  Carey,  Mrs 
Onslow,  Mrs  Southwell,  Mrs  Bess  Russell,  Mrs  Darcy  and  my 
Lady  Blanche  Somerset."  Mrs  Fitton,  as  being  the  best  dancer,  led; 
and  she  came  to  the  Queen  and  asked  her  to  join  them.  The 
Queen  asked  her  what  was  her  name.  She  answered  "Affection!" 
"Affection  is  false,"  said  the  Queen;  yet  she  rose  and  danced. 
(She  should  have  said  "Terpsichore,"  the  muse  of  dancing.) 
Lord  William  Herbert  was  present  at  that  masque,  and  on  igth 
January,  1600-1,  he  became  Earl  of  Pembroke  on  the  death  of 
his  father.  Sir  William  Knollys  was  connected  with  Mary  Fitton 
in  a  very  remarkable  way,  which  we  may  learn  from  his  own  letters 
preserved  at  Arbury.  Sir  Edward  Fitton's  elder  daughter,  Anne, 
had  been  maid  of  honour  to  the  Queen  until  she  married  John 
Newdigate  of  Arbury.  Then  she  resigned,  and  her  younger  sister 
Mary,  at  17,  took  her  place  in  1595. 

Sir  Edward  Fitton  wrote  to  Sir  William  Knollys,  his  old  friend 
(also  a  relative  of  the  Queen),  to  ask  him  to  look  after  his  young 
daughter.  Sir  William  replied,  "I  will  not  fail  to  fulfil  your  desire 
in  playing  the  Good  Shepherd,  and  will  to  my  power  defend  the 
innocent  lamb  from  the  wolfish  cruelty  and  fox-like  subtlety  of  the 
tame  beasts  of  this  place — I  will  with  my  counsel  advise  your 
faire  daughter,  with  my  true  affection  love  her,  and  with  my  sword 
1  Sidney  Papers,  II.  201. 


xvi]  A  LAMPOON  OF  THE  DAY  239 

defend  her  if  need  be — I  will  be  as  careful  of  her  well-doing  as  if 
I  were  her  true  father."  Sir  William  had  married  Dorothy, 
daughter  of  Lord  Bray  and  widow  of  Edward  Bridges,  Lord 
Chandos.  She  was  older  than  he  was,  and  was  a  confirmed  invalid. 
So  it  happened  that  the  attractions  of  his  fair  young  ward  soon 
proved  too  much  for  Sir  William's  judgment  and  discretion.  He 
began  to  offer  her  attentions  so  conspicuous  that  the  Court  knew 
that  he  sought  to  engage  her  affections — honourably,  he  thought. 
He  offered  the  reversion  of  his  hand  and  heart  not  only  to  the 
girl,  but,  on  his  own  behalf,  to  her  relatives  for  her,  as  his  second 
wife  before  the  first  had  gone.  Abundant  proof  of  this  is  to  be 
found  in  his  letters,  printed  by  Lady  Newdigate  in  her  Gossip  from 
an  old  Muniment  Room. 

Mary  Fitton  had  evidently  flirted  with  and  hoodwinked  her 
guardian  lover,  while  she  trod  the  flowery  paths  of  dalliance,  as 
secretly  as  she  could,  with  Lord  William  Herbert,  who  had  just 
become  Earl  of  Pembroke.  By  January  26th  Sir  John  Stanhope 
had  written  to  Sir  G.  Carew  about  "Mary  Fitton 's  afflictions." 
But  it  seems  to  have  been  the  4th  of  February  before  the  Court 
knew  that  "Pembrooke  strooke  her  downe,"  and  "the  Raine  deer" 
(the  Queen)  was  "imbost"  (or  raging). 

Cecil  himself  wrote  on  the  5th  of  February  to  Carew:  "We  have 
no  news  but  that  there  is  a  misfortune  befallen  Mistress  Fitton... 
and  the  Earl  of  Pembroke  being  examined  confessed!  a  fact,  but 
utterly  renounceth  all  marriage.  I  feare  they  will  both  dwell  in  the 
Tower  awhile,  for  the  Queen  hath  vowed  to  send  them  thither." 
By  the  8th,  however,  the  Tower  was  filled  with  more  important 
offenders;  the  Queen  partially  relented  to  these,  Pembroke  was 
committed  to  the  Fleet,  where  he  stayed  some  time  (as  Tobie 
Matthew  told  Carleton  on  March  25th),  and  Mary  Fitton  was 
entrusted  to  the  care  of  Lady  Hawkins.  The  last  phrase,  "and 
tooke  her  from  the  downe"  is  held  by  the  Herbert-Fittonites 
to  mean  Shakespeare  and  to  prove  that  this  was  his  "dark  Lady."1 
The  case  is  too  long  to  be  argued  here,  but  the  construction  of  the 
sentence  and  the  parallel  of  other  verses  make  it  seem  clear  to  me 
that  "the  clowne"  means  the  subject  of  the  sentence,  "partie 

1  See  the  article  "Shakespeare's  friends  of  the  Sonnets, "  in  Shakespeare's 
Environment,  etc. 


24o     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

beard,"  Sir  William  Knollys.  The  courtiers  evidently  thought  this 
piece  of  scandal  highly  entertaining,  and  the  satirist  used  the  most 
mortifying  and  scathing  incident  known  to  him  to  gall  the  man 
who  had  been  forced  to  range  himself  with  the  Earl  of  Essex's 
enemies,  though  he  was  his  uncle. 

III.  There  is  no  disguise  about  "litell  Cecill."    Sir  Robert, 
the  second  son  of  the  great  Lord  Burleigh,  was  said  to  have  had 
a  curvature  of  the  spine  and  a  peculiar  gait  in  walking;  his  enemies 
frequently  referred  to  his  personal   peculiarities,   doubtless  even 
his  friends  occasionally  made  him  wince.    He  was  really  little — 
Elizabeth  sometimes  called  him  her  "little  Elf,"  King  James 
described  him  as  his  "little  Beagle."   But  he  had  the  brains  of  the 
family;  his  elder  brother  Thomas,  who  succeeded  to  the  title,  had 
only  "average  ability" — the  satirist  here  calls  him  also  a  "clowne." 
The  "great  fox-furred  gowne"  is  mentioned  in  Burleigh's  will. 
The  "long  proclamation"  was  certainly  written  by  Sir  Robert,  and 
his  brother,  Lord  Burleigh,  with  about  10  horse  carried  it  to  the 
city  and  supported  the  herald.   It  was  printed,  published,  and  dated 
two  days  later.    A  copy  is  preserved  in  the  same  volume  of  the 
State  Papers1  as  the  records  of  the  examinations  and  trial.    One 
might  almost  think  the  writer  of  the  lampoon  a  citizen  of  London, 
by  the  compressed  scorn  of  the  phrase  "sav'd  the  towne  is  it  not 
likelie?" 

IV.  Through  this  verse  we  can  glean  the  approximate  date  of  the 
lampoon.   The  Calendar  queries  it  as  "January?  1600-1."  That 
date  is  impossible.   It  refers  to  the  Earl  of  Bedford's  "fine,"  which 
was  not  announced  until  nth  May2.    We  may  take  it  therefore  to 
have  been  written  in  May  or  June  1 60 1 .   The  chief  offenders  were 
already  executed,  the  term  was  over,  no  more  trials  were  expected, 
the  sympathisers  were  able  to  breathe  and  to  vent  their  scorn  on 
those  who  had  done  to  death  so  many  gallant  gentlemen.    The 
Earl  of  Bedford  is  the  only  one  mentioned  here  who  started  with 
the  Earl  of  Essex,  but,  changing  sides  in  the  middle  of  the  action, 
is  held  up  with  the  others  to  the  scorn  of  any  readers.   In  his  own 
examination  3  he  stated  that  he  knew  nothing  of  the  designs  before- 
hand; that  Lady  Rich  had  come  in  her  coach,  while  he  was  hearing 

1  D.S.S.P.  CCLXXVIII.  36.  2  Ibid.  CCLXXVIII-IX. 

3  Ibid.  CCLXXVIII.  49,  50. 


xvi]  A  LAMPOON  OF  THE  DAY  241 

a  sermon  in  his  own  house,  and  had  carried  him  away  to  her  brother 
in  Essex  House,  who  had  need  of  him.  He  had  gone  out  with  the 
Earls,  but  left  them  soon. 

Henry  Woodrington  on  I3th  February1  confessed  that  he  and 
his  uncle  had  gone  to  see  the  Earl  of  Rutland  in  Essex  House  and 
there,  being  carried  along  by  the  throng,  on  the  8th  of  February 
followed  the  company  with  purpose  to  withdraw  the  Earl  of 
Bedford  from  them,  he  being  a  near  kinsman  and  his  uncle  Ephraim 
Woodrington  a  servant  to  the  Earl  of  Bedford.  As  soon  as  they 
could  get  a  fit  opportunity  without  danger  to  the  Earl  or  to  them- 
selves, they  got  him  from  that  company  and  carried  him  away  by 
water.  Bedford  immediately  got  some  horsemen  together  and 
galloped  to  the  Court,  but,  being  suspected,  was  seized  there  and 
committed  first  to  the  care  of  Alderman  Holliday,  and  then  to  the 
house  of  Sir  John  Stanhope.  Among  the  chronological  notes 
regarding  the  Essex  "rebellion"2  it  is  stated  that  Lord  Bedford  was 
fined  j£2O,ooo  (an  enormous  sum  for  those  days),  afterwards  reduced 
to  ^  1 0,000.  We  may  imagine,  therefore,  the  writer  to  be  chuckling 
at  the  fact  that  he  had  to  pay  as  much  as  if  he  had  gone  on  with 
his  friends  to  the  end  of  their  enterprise.  What  the  little  fling  at 
his  wife  means  I  cannot  be  quite  sure.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Sir 
John  Harington,  and  the  chief  patron  of  Drayton,  though  his  tone 
of  praise  changed  somewhat  in  his  publications  of  1 603. 

V.  All  of  the  Essex  and  Southampton  party  must  have  special 
reason  to  dislike  "litell  Graie,"  because  his  choleric  and  jealous 
temperament  had  been  one  of  the  chief  means  of  fanning  the  wrath 
kindled  against  them  at  Court.  His  story  is  given  in  a  special 
chapter  above  3.  I  do  not  know  why  he  should  here  be  called  "little," 
nor  why  he  should  be  charged  with  "turning  his  heels  to  run  away," 
except  what  may  be  gleaned  from  the  previous  chapter  on  the 
Conspiracy.  He  was  protected  from  behind.  But  the  writer  must 
have  had  some  little  ground  for  whetting  on  him  the  arrows  of  his 
scorn.  None  expected  then  that  Nemesis  should  come  to  him  in 
a  suffering  similar  to  that  of  Southampton,  through  a  trumpery 
charge,  unglorified  by  sentiment,  during  long  years  spent  in  the 
doleful  Tower,  and  a  lonely  death  there,  the  last  of  his  family. 

1  D.S.S.P.  CCLXXVIII.  56.  z  Ibid.  CCLXXXI.  67. 

8  Chap.  xi.  p   163. 


s.  s. 


242    THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON  [CH.  xvr 

VI.  The  two  persons  aimed  at  here  are  not  so  surely  to  be 
identified.    I   think  that  "foulke"   must  mean   Fulke  Greville, 
afterwards  Lord  Brooke,  the  friend  of  Sir  Philip  Sidney.    He  had 
been  friendly  with  both  Earls,  especially  with  Southampton,  but 
was  strictly  obedient  and  loyal  to  the  Queen.  Only  an  enemy  could 
charge  him  with  venality,  as  he  kept  his  hands  singularly  clean1. 
Neither  is  "John"  quite  clear.   I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  it  means 
Sir  John  Stanhope, who  had  been  very  friendly  with  the  Southampton 
family,  but  had  kept  clear  of  any  complicity  with  the  doings  of  Essex. 
He  had  been  appointed  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber  in  1 596.   The 
Earl  of  Bedford  was  committed  to  his  custody  on  February  i  oth. 
He  married,  first,  Joan,  daughter  of  Sir  William  Knollys,  and, 
second,  Margaret,  daughter   of  Mr  Henry   Williams.     He   was 
created  Baron  Stanhope  of  Harrington  in   1605. 

VII.  Raleigh's  hatred  and  jealousy  of  Essex  had  been  publicly 
known  ever  since  the  Spanish  voyage  of  1596.    Elizabeth  often 
made  use  of  him  to  punish  her  favourite  when  he  offended  her, 
and  it  must  have  been  bitter  indeed  to  Essex  to  feel  his  merciless 
rival  triumph  over  him  at  last.    Raleigh  was  Warden  of  the  Stan- 
neries  and  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Cornwall 2.    In  the  Parliament  of 
1 60 1  he  defended  monopolies  in  general,  and  his  own  monopoly 
of  tin  in  particular.    Him,  like  Grey,  Nemesis  awaited.    He  may 
have  been  innocent  of  the  charge  which  led  directly  to  his  execution, 
but  against  him  the  blood  of  Essex  called  out  in  judgment. 

Perhaps  it  was  something  akin  to  this  satire  that  the  Lords  of 
the  Council  aimed  at  on  loth  May,  1601,  when  they  noted: 
"Certain  players  at  the  Curtaine  in  Moorfields  do  represent  in 
their  interlude  the  persons  of  some  gentlemen  of  good  desert  and 
quality  that  are  yet  alive,  under  obscure  manner  but  yet  in  such 
sorte  that  all  the  hearers  may  take  notice  both  of  the  matter  and 
the  persons  that  are  meant  thereby.  All  are  to  be  examined  " 

1  See  my  Shakespeare's  Warwickshire  Contemporaries,  p.  170. 
3  Journal  of  the  House  of  Commons. 


CHAPTER  XVII 
THE  PASSING  OF  THE  TUDORS 

THE  fall  of  Essex  may  be  said  to  date  the  end  of  the  reign  of 
Elizabeth  in  regard  to  her  activities  and  glories.  After  that  she 
was  Queen  only  in  name.  She  listened  to  her  councillors,  signed 
her  papers,  and  tried  to  retrench  in  expenditure;  but  her  policy  was 
dependent  on  the  decisions  of  Sir  Robert  Cecil.  He  had  secured  the 
only  form  of  sovereignty  that  Essex  had  desired.  Her  last  Parlia- 
ment1 was  summoned  for  27th  October,  1601,  and  she  staggered 
under  the  weight  of  the  Royal  robes  and  would  have  fallen,  but 
that  eager  hands  were  held  out  to  support  her. 

Francis  Osborne  speaks  of  Essex's  death  as  cruel  and  disastrous. 
"The  Queen  had  no  comfort  after.... The  people  were  wrathful 

at  the  death  of  their  favourite,  and  she  lost  their  honour  and  glory 

The  death  of  Essex,  like  a  melancholy  cloud,  did  shade  the  prospect 
of  her  people's  affection....!  have  heard  it,  though  looked  upon 
by  me  as  a  paradox,  that  Essex  would  have  vindicated  English 
freedom  by  reviving  such  ancient  privileges  as  had  been  preter- 
mitted  during  the  tyrannical  reigns  of  the  two  last  Henrys."  2  Even 
Speed  says:  "As  the  death  of  this  nobleman  was  much  lamented  by 
the  subjects  whose  love  towards  him  was  so  ingrafted  (as  I  think 
I  may  well  say  never  subject  had  more),  so  her  Majestic  likewise 
having  such  a  starre  falne  from  her  firmament,  was  inwardly 
moved  and  outwardly  oftentimes  would  shew  passions  of  her  griefe, 
even  till  the  time  of  her  approaching  end,  when  two  yeares  after 
she  laid  her  heade  in  the  Grave,  as  the  most  resplendent  sunne 
setteth  at  last  in  a  western  cloud."3 

She  seemed  to  recover  in  1 602,  and  went  a-maying  to  Lewisham 
on  May  day.  She  let  Sir  Roger  Aston,  James's  ambassador,  see  her 
dancing,  to  prevent  his  master  being  too  eager  for  any  speedy 
personal  advantage.  She  is  said  to  have  danced  with  the  Due  de 
Nevers  when  he  was  here.  Yet  at  the  beginning  of  June  she  had 

1  Lingard,  Part.  Hist.  D'Ewes.          *  Essays,  Elizabeth,  p.  353. 
*  3rd  edition,  p.  1214. 

1 6 — 2 


244     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH- 

told  the  French  ambassador  "she  was  aweary  of  Life,  and  alluded 
touchingly  to  the  death  of  Essex."  She  was  very  gay  in  her  festivities 
in  July;  but  it  was  noticed  that  she  did  not  go  far  from  home. 
Chamberlain  was  puzzled  on  October  2nd  why  Cecil  should  dismiss 
his  invaluable  secretary,  Willes.  It  was  afterwards  found  that  he 
feared  his  servant  would  discover  his  correspondence  with  the 
Scottish  King1.  Cecil  gave  a  great  entertainment  to  the  Queen  on 
December  23rd,  and  as  a  special  favour  allowed  Walter  Cope  to 
share  in  it.  The  Lord  Admiral  feasted  the  Queen,  but  neither  his 
preparations  nor  his  gifts  were  as  good  as  were  expected.  Christmas 
seemed  flat  and  dull. 

And  into  the  Court  came  a  sense  of  mystery  and  secrecy.  Few 
dared  speak  out  their  minds.  Who  was  to  succeed  this  failing  life  ? 
Whither  was  England  drifting? 

Meanwhile,  the  Earl  of  Southampton  lay  in  the  Tower,  and 
there  seem  to  be  only  two  sources  whence  we  may  glean  some 
facts  about  him. 

The  letter  indited  by  the  Council  to  Sir  John  Peyton  on  March 
22nd,  1600-1,  has  already  been  quoted2.  Probably  Southampton's 
illness  necessitated  extra  care  from  his  attendants  and  induced 
E.  Harte,  his  keeper,  to  write  on  May  24th  to  Sir  Robert  Cecil 
to  beg  a  change: 

As  to  your  good  liking,  I  was  put  in  trust  to  be  keeper  unto  the  Lord  of 
Southampton,  I  desire  you  so  to  continue  your  good  opinion  of  me,  as  by 
your  good  means  to  her  Majestic,  my  libertie  may  be  returned  to  her 
presence,  that  I  may  enjoy  the  countenance  of  such  favours  as  she  has 
bestowed  on  others  her  servants  which  did  her  service  in  the  suppressing 
of  the  rebels.  My  long  continuance  in  this  manner  is  little  better  than  a 
prisoner,  and  without  your  good  remembrances  may  be  so  forgotten  as  both 
my  time  and  my  services  here  spent  will  little  avail  my  preferment3. 

His  application  was  answered  as  he  wished  on  I4th  June  through 
the  Lieutenant: 

Whereas  Captain  Hart  hath  been  appointed  to  attend  on  the  Earl  of 
Southampton  ever  since  his  first  commitment  to  the  Tower,  her  Majestic 
is  pleased  that  the  said  Captain  Hart  may  now  have  libertie  to  follow  his 
businesse,  and  therefore  you  may  signifie  so  much  to  him  and  appoint  some 

1  D.S.S.P.  Eliz.  285,  23. 

2  Reg.  Privy  Council,  xxxi.  237.    (See  p.  224.) 

8  Cecil  Papers,  LXXXVI.  58.   Salisb.  Papers,  xn.  205. 


xvnj          THE  PASSING  OF  THE  TUDORS  245 

such  person  as  you  shall  make  choice  of  for  that  purpose  to  attend  upon  the 
Earl1. 

We  do  not  know  whom  the  Lieutenant  chose,  but  it  was 
probably  some  satisfactory  person,  as  Sir  John  Peyton  had  become 
interested  in  his  prisoner.  On  August  i8th  he  wrote  to  the 
Council : 

My  Lord  of  Southampton,  by  reason  of  his  close  imprisonment  and  want 
of  all  manner  of  exercise  being  grown  weak  and  very  sickly,  has  desired  me 
to  send  you  his  letters  of  petition,  here  inclosed,  upon  which  occasion  I  have 
prepared  for  him  another  lodging.  But  without  some  exercise,  and  more 
air  than  is  convenient  for  me  to  allow  without  knowledge  from  your  honours 
of  her  Majesties  pleasure,  I  do  much  doubt  of  his  recovery. 

Southampton's  letter  has  not  been  preserved,  but  there  is  appa- 
rently the  answer  to  it  on  the  i  gth  of  the  same  month.  The  Council 
wrote  to  the  Lieutenant  of  the  Tower: 

Forasmuch  as  her  Majesty  hath  understood  by  a  letter  from  yourself  and 
another  enclosed  from  the  late  Earle  of  Southampton  that  he,  suspecting 
himself  to  be  in  some  danger  by  the  growing  on  of  a  long  sicknesse  (which 
he  hath  had  before  his  trouble),  is  now  an  humble  suyter  (for  the  ease  and 
comforte  of  his  minde)  to  have  the  favour  to  see  his  mother,  and  to  conferre 
with  her  and  some  others  that  were  putt  in  trust  with  his  estate,  his  hope 
beinge  thereby  to  obtaine  at  her  hands  some  favour  towards  his  child,  from 
whom  his  great  offences  hath  taken  all  which  otherwise  should  descend  unto 
her:  Wee  do  hereby  give  you  to  understand,  that  her  Majesty  is  pleased, 
and  the  rather  at  the  humble  and  importunate  suit  of  the  Countesse  his 
mother,  to  give  you  warrante  to  admit  her  Ladyshippe,  and  any  two  of 
those  persons  whom  he  shall  desier,  that  have  been  dealers  in  his  estate,  to 
repaire  unto  him  in  this  time  of  his  indisposition  to  conferre  with  him,  so 
provided  that  it  be  done  at  due  tune  in  private  manner,  in  your  presence 
and  hearing,  and  this  shall  be  your  warrant2. 

It  is  most  probable  that  Edmund  Gage  and  William  Cham- 
berlain would  be  chosen  to  perform  this  doleful  duty.  Incidentally 
this  shews  that  Lady  Rich  in  1599  na(^  l°st  ner  wager>  anc^  tnat 
he  had  no  son  living  at  the  time 3. 

I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  the  following  list  of  expenses  refers 
to  this  date.  "Last  paste  1602,"  could  not  have  been  so  written 
in  1603,  but  "last  paste,"  meaning  1601,  account  rendered  in 

1  Reg.  Privy  Council,  xxxi.  430.  *  Ibid.  175. 

8  See  p.  158. 


246     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

1602,  would  fit  times,  seasons,  and  other  records.  The  MS.,  four 
leaves  stitched  together  and  written  on  both  sides  by  the  Deputy 
Surveyor  of  her  Majesty's  Works,  is  a  request  for  payment: 

Maye  it  please  your  Honours  to  understand  ye  extraordinarye  charges  that 
have  grown  on  soundry  her  Majesties  howses  in  ye  monethes  of  Auguste 
and  September  last  paste  1602.  The  Tower  of  London  the  howse  in  mending 
and  repairinge  a  lodging  neare  unto  ye  Queenes  Gallerye,  wher  ye  Earle  of 
Southampton  is  lodged,  and  making  a  partition  of  fir  poles  and  slitte  deales 
at  ye  east  ende  of  ye  gallerye  for  a  withdrawing  chamber;  ye  mending  with 
lyme  and  haire  some  faultes  in  ye  frette  and  ceiling  in  ye  Earles  Bedchamber 
and  whitewashing  all  ye  walles  and  ceilinges,  ye  mending  soundry  faultes 
and  decayed  places  in  Mr  Lieutenant's  Lodging  etc.  £22.  2.  4*. 

This  bill  has  come  into  the  possession  of  Dr  Smedley,  who 
kindly  allowed  me  to  copy  and  make  use  of  it. 

On  October  nth  came  an  order  of  happier  omen:  "the  Countess 
his  wife  was  to  be  admitted  for  his  comfort."2  The  news  was 
contained  in  a  letter  to  "  Mr  George  Harvie,  Esq.,  having  charge 
of  the  prisoners  in  the  Tower  in  the  absence  of  Mr  Lieutenant": 

Whereas  her  Majestic  is  informed  that  the  Earle  of  Southampton  is  of 
late  growne  very  sickly,  in  the  which  respect  her  Highness  is  pleased  that  for 
his  comforte  the  Countess  his  wife  shalbe  permitted  to  have  accesse  unto 
him,  these  are  therefore  accordingly  to  will  and  requyer  you  to  suffer  her  at 
conveniyent  tymes  to  repayre  unto  him,  for  the  which  these  shalbe  your 
warrant. 

One  likes  to  believe  that  it  was  her  happy  thought  to  take  his 
favourite  cat  with  her  to  help  to  comfort,  and  to  help  to  calm  the 
excitement  of  meeting  again  after  such  a  long  and  anxious 
separation.  No  memorial  is  left  us  of  the  Countess's  visit;  but 
there  is  a  portrait  painted  of  him,  with  the  cat  in  attendance;  and 
it  probably  stayed  with  him  during  the  rest  of  his  captivity. 

By  a  strange  coincidence,  Henry  IV  sent  Biron  as  an  envoy  to 
Elizabeth  about  this  time.  He  was  imprudent  enough  to  mention 
Essex.  Elizabeth  at  first  was  wrathful,  then  told  him  that,  in  spite 
of  his  faults,  if  Essex  had  only  taken  the  advice  of  his  friends  and 
fully  submitted  and  entreated  pardon,  she  would  have  forgiven  him. 
This  seems  to  point  to  some  keeping  back  of  his  communications. 
Cecil,  on  July  i8th,  1602,  writing  to  Carew  about  Biron,  said,  "It 

1  Original  MS.  Deputy  Surveyor  of  Works. 

*  Reg.  Privy  Council,  xxxi.  256.  •  3  Ibid. 


xvnj          THE  PASSING  OF  THE  TUDORS  247 

pleased  me  not  a  little  (seeing  God  had  appointed  our  Earl  to  dye) 
that  we  had  other  manner  of  proof  of  his  conspiracy,  that  we 
beheld  him  in  open  rebellion  and  heard  him  before  his  death 
confirm  all  with  open  confession,  for  otherwise,  who  doth  not 
know  how  partial  this  kingdom  was  to  condemne  his  opposite*  of 
malice  and  practice." 

There  is  no  other  allusion  to  Southampton's  doings  during  the 
two  years  he  spent  in  the  Tower,  except  in  private  letters,  especially 
those  of  the  secret  correspondence  with  the  Scottish  King,  now 
published. 

Essex  had  begged  James  to  send  ambassadors  speedily  and  had 
suggested  a  line  of  action  for  them.  James  was  willing,  but  they 
were  delayed,  and  the  crisis  came  before  their  arrival.  Had  they 
come  at  the  time  Essex  proposed,  things  might  have  worked  out 
differently.  James  had  given  them  a  paper  of  instructions,  which 
could  not  be  followed  after  Essex's  death. 

When  the  Scottish  King  sent  his  second  paper  of  instructions  on 
the  1 8th  of  April,  1601,  from  Linlithgow  to  the  ambassadors1,  he 
acknowledged  that  "at  the  time  of  your  despatch  things  were  so 
miscarried  by  that  unfortunate  accident"  He  therefore  gave  them 
new  instructions  "how  to  walk  surely  between  these  two  precipices 
of  King  and  people,  who  now  appear  to  be  in  so  contrary  terms," 
how  to  deal  with  the  ministers  "especially  Mr  Secretary,  who  is 
King  there  in  effect ',"  "to  renew  and  confirm  your  acquaintance 
with  Lieutenant  of  the  Tower."  Shortly  after  their  arrival,  the 
ambassadors  held  a  conference  with  Cecil.  He  insisted  that,  while 
the  Queen  lived,  there  must  be  absolute  respect  paid  to  her  wishes, 
and  also  that  (though  he  was  quite  in  favour  of  the  King's  claims) 
any  correspondence  between  them  must  be  kept  absolutely  secret. 
The  Earl  of  Mar  and  Mr  Edward  Bruce  sent  a  report  to  the  King, 
and  shortly  after  receiving  this,  James  wrote  his  first  personal 
letter  to  Cecil,  dated  June  3,  1602,  in  the  Calendar^  under  the 
cipher  numbers  of  "30"  and  "  10"  This  shews  that  there  had  been 
dealings  between  them  before2.  "That  Cecil  (10)  mistrusted  the 

1  The  first  instructions  have  not  been  preserved.    The  originals  are  in 
the  Advocates'  Library,  Edinburgh.    Secret  Correspondence  James  I  and 
Cecil,  ed.  by  Lord  Hailes.  Letter  i. 

2  Camden  Series,  LXXIII.  pp.  15,  16.   Cecil  Papers,  cxxxv,  63,  4. 


248     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

aspiring  mind  of  Essex,  James  (30)  could  not  but  commend,  taking  it 
as  a  sure  signe  that  Cecil  (10)  would  never  allow  a  subject  to  climb 
to  so  high  a  roome."  It  is  endorsed  by  Cecil  "1600.  30  first  letter 
to  10."  "The  King"  and  "Secretary"  are  written  after.  This  was  a 
form  of  communication  which  it  was  not  safe  to  use  frequently. 
James  recommended  Lord  Henry  Howard  as  an  intermediary,  and 
hence  arose  the  series  of  letters  by  that  effusive  nobleman,  formerly 
so  devoted  to  Essex  and  now  hand  in  hand  with  Cecil.  But  he 
retained  his  affection  for  the  Earl  of  Southampton.  It  is  chiefly 
in  relation  to  the  latter  that  I  have  noted  some  points  in  these  two 
series,  and  compared  them  with  Cecil's  letters  to  Sir  George  Carew. 

On  August  1 3th  Cecil  asked  Sir  George  Carew  to  back  his 
influence  with  Mountjoy;  whereby  he  shews  the  delicate  position 
in  which  the  new  Lord  Deputy  stood. 

It  is  evident  from  Cecil's  next  letter  that  it  was  known  that  he 
had  made  a  compact  with  Cobham,  Raleigh,  Grey,  and  others  to 
crush  Essex;  that  done,  there  came  a  slack  time  with  them  all. 

On  September  5th,  1601,  Cecil  writes,  "I  keep  all  things  quiet 
amongst  our  trowpe,  but  if  you  remember  what  Meg  Ratlyff 
prophesyed,  she  said  the  pack  would  break,  but  I  heare  all  and  find 
nothing."1 

Lord  Henry  Howard,  writing  to  the  Earl  of  Mar  on  November 
22nd,  1 60 1,  speaks  of  the  nearly  contemporary  events  of  the  fall 
of  the  Scottish  King,  of  the  French  King,  and  of  the  stumbling 
of  the  English  Queen  under  the  weight  of  her  robes  on  the  first 
day  of  her  Parliament.  None  of  these  seemed  to  have  any  serious 
effects,  but  Queen  Elizabeth  never  actually  sat  on  her  throne 
again  2. 

In  his  following  letter,  this  time  to  Mr  Edward  Bruce,  Lord 
Henry  said,  "  I  gave  you  notice  of  the  diabolical  triplicity,"  3  that  is 
Cobham,  Raleigh,  and  the  Earl  of  Northumberland  (the  latter  of 
whom  had  married  the  sister  of  Essex,  whom  he  did  not  use  well). 
He  tried  to  keep  up  a  correspondence  with  the  Scottish  King  on  his 
own  account.  James  listened  to  him,  but  did  not  commit  himself. 
Lord  Henry  now  tells  some  of  his  tricks.  "In  conclusion  he 
assured  them  out  of  such  scraps  as  he  had  raked  out  of  the  alms- 

1  Camden  Series,  Cecil  to  Carew. 

2  Secret  Cow.  Hailes,  Letter  n.  3  Ibid.  Letter  in. 


xvn]  THE  PASSING  OF  THE  TUDORS  249 

basket,  that  all  the  partisans  of  the  last  tragedy  resorted  to  South- 
ampton without  impeachment,  by  the  Lieutenant's  sufferance,  that 
new  practises  were  set  on  broach;  that  his  own  brother  Sir  Joseline 
Percy  did  ordinarily  lie  with  him  in  the  Tower,  and  that  in  his 
conscience  he  would,  ere  it  were  long,  make  an  escape,  or  attempt 
a  worse  enterprise.  These  two  wicked  villains  Cobham  and 
Raleigh,  handled  the  fool  so  cunningly."  Northumberland  was  to 
tell  the  Queen  himself,  but  shrank  from  doing  so.  Cobham  told 
part  of  the  story  to  Cecil,  who,  "rinding  that  the  practice  meant 
against  Southampton  formally  did  pierce  himself  through  the  other 
side,"  dissuaded  Northumberland  from  informing,  and  advised  him 
"rather  to  merit  Southampton's  thankfulness  by  warning  him 
of  the  danger  imminent  both  to  him  and  to  the  Lieutenant,  with 
the  commendation  of  all,  than  to  incur  the  censures  of  the  world 
by  raking  in  the  bowels  of  a  man  half  dead,  and  informing  upon  a 
poor  forlorn  hope  in  extremity. ..Cecil  sware  unto  me  this  day  that 
he  and  they  (Cobham  and  Raleigh)  could  never  live  under  one 
apple-tree."  He  dwells  on  the  miserable  state  of  Cobham  and 
Raleigh,  "who  are  fain  to  put  their  heads  under  the  girdle  of  him 
they  envy  most." 

In  his  letter  to  the  King  of  December  4th,  Lord  Henry  writes 
evil  words  of  Cobham  and  Raleigh's  hypocrisy,  and  advises  extreme 
caution  with  them  x.  They  seek  to  scant  the  scope  of  Southampton's 
liberty. 

Lord  Henry's  next  letter  was  to  Mr  Edward  Bruce2,  in  which 
he  said,  "  Cobham  hath  once  again  incensed  the  Queen  against  the 
lease  which  Southampton  made  years  before  this  mishap  for  pay- 
ment of  his  debts,  and  therefore  out  of  compass  of  forfeiting.  She 
hath  pressed  for  it  with  all  importunity,  but  it  will  prove  good  in 
law.  These  are  the  fruits  of  Cobham's  everburning  charity."  This 
letter  is  undated,  but  as  it  refers  to  Northumberland's  challenging 
Sir  Francis  Vere,  it  must  have  been  written  about  the  end  of 
April  1602.  Lord  Henry's  long-winded  and  obscure  perorations 
are  not  always  dated  and  may  therefore  be  sometimes  out  of  order — 
Letter  vi  makes  little  contribution  to  the  great  subjects.  Letter  vn, 
however,  is  dated  27th  April,  and  refers  to  some  whose  suspicions 
had  been  aroused  and  were  making  efforts  to  intercept  the  King's 
1  Letter  iv.  2  Letter  v. 


250     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

packet.    The  following  letter,  dated  May  ist,  1602,  is  chiefly 
about  Northumberland: 

The  man  is  beloved  of  none,  followed  by  none,  trusted  by  no  one  save  his 
faction.... The  Queen  repeated  one  month  since  when  she  was  moved  in  his 
favour  for  a  regiment,  that  Raleigh  had  made  him  as  odious  as  himself, 
because  he  would  not  be  singular.  There  is  no  secret  that  he  revealeth  not 
to  all  his  own  men.  He  came  to  King  James  upon  anger  and  vexation  at 
the  Queen's  deep  hatred  and  invectives.... He  seeks  to  bind  himself  upon  the 
future,  finding  Mountjoy  and  Southampton  planted  there,  against  whom 
his  practices  work  everlastingly1. 

Letter  ix  from  James  discusses  with  Lord  Henry  Howard  the 
report  of  Arabella's  Stuart's  change  of  religion  to  Catholic2. 

Letter  x  is  an  important  one  in  many  ways.  Lord  Henry 
Howard  writes  to  the  Earl  of  Mar  on  June  4th,  1 602 : 

Raleigh  and  Cobham  boast  to  have  agreed  with  the  Duke  of  Lennox  to 
further  all  plots  against  you  and  Mr  Bruce.. .  .Your  Lordship  may  believe  that 
Hell  did  never  spew  up  such  a  couple  when  it  cast  up  Cerberus  and  Phle- 
gethon.  They  are  now  set  on  the  pin  of  making  tragedies  by  meddling  in 
your  affairs... since  among  us,  longer  than  they  follow  the  Queen's  humour 
in  disclaiming  and  disgracing  honest  men,  their  credit  serves  them  not.... 
My  Lord  Admiral 3  the  other  day  wished  from  his  soul  that  he  had  but  the 
same  commission  to  carry  the  cannon  to  Durham  House4  that  he  had  this 
time  twelvemonth  to  Essex  House  to  prove  what  sport  he  could  make  in 
that  fellowship....!  must  tell  your  Lordship  in  secret  betwixt  you  and  me, 
in  the  wonted  manner,  without  commission  to  advertise  that  Cecil's  fear 
lest  the  Duke  (of  Lennox)  or  Beltrees5  had  expressed  fables  in  strange  figures 
could  not  guess  at  any  other  ground  than  some  chimeras  tendered  from 
Cobham  Raleigh  and  Northumberland  upon  their  offer  to  comply,  p.  123. 

Now  as  all  these  letters  are  written  for  the  inspection  of  King 
James,  one  has  not  far  to  seek  for  the  cause  of  his  arriving  in 
England  with  a  distrust  of  Cobham  and  Raleigh  already  implanted 
in  his  soul. 

Lord  Grey  does  not  appear  in  this  correspondence — he  was  not 
at  Court.  Chamberlain  writes  on  May  8th,  1602:  "The  Lord 
Gray  prepares  to  go  into  the  Low  Countries  and  to  have  the 

1  Letter  vin. 

2  He  "thinks  she  has  been  very  evil  attended." 
8  Earl  of  Nottingham. 

4  Durham  House,  where  Cobham  and  Raleigh  met. 

6  Lord  Semple  of  Beltrees,  ambassador  to  Elizabeth  in  1599. 


xvnj          THE  PASSING  OF  THE  TUDORS  251 

command  of  3  or  4  hundred  horse,  though  whether  he  provide 
them  there  or  here  I  know  not."  On  the  lyth  he  corrects  himself: 
"The  Lord  Gray  carries  over  neither  men  nor  horse,  but  relies 
entirely  on  the  States  for  his  entertaynement."  On  June  the  27 th, 
"The  Lord  Gray  hath  not  that  command  nor  entertainment  in 
the  Low  Countries  that  he  propounded  to  himself."  By  the  I5th  of 
October,  "The  Lord  Gray  is  newly  come  out  of  the  Low  Countries 
and  rails  freely  on  Sir  Francis  Vere."  On  28th  February,  1602-3, 

he  says,  "One  Griffith  a  Welsh  pirate his  lands  geven  to  the 

Lord  Gray,  to  hold  him  up  a  little  longer." 

Now  about  this  period  Cecil  confided  to  his  friend  Carew  on 
2nd  September,  1602:  "Two  old  friends  use  me  unkindly,  but  I 
have  covenanted  with  my  heart  not  to  know  it,  for  in  shewe  we 
are  great,  and  all  my  revenge  shall  be  to  heap  coals  on  their  heade." 
Going  back  to  Lord  Henry  Howard's  epistles,  we  find  him  writing 
to  the  King  on  24th  August,  1602 l:  "Cecil  is  infinitely  glad  that 
Mount] oy  and  Southampton  are  so  strange  to  the  mystery,  and  that 
all  was  not  true  which  was  advertised — For  Mountjoy  hath  begun 
to  sound... Cecil  hath  saved  the  life  of  the  one  out  of  respect  to  his 
affection  to  King  James,  though  it  was  neither  ancient  nor  very 
meritorious.  He  hath  preserved  the  reputation  and  credit  of  the 
other  for  the  same  respect,  though  his  adventure  therein  was  not 
small;  the  rest  must  be  wrought  out  with  opportunity  and  time." 

Letter  xi  is  only  flattery  of  the  King,  and  Letter  xii  is  chiefly 
about  the  relations  of  the  King  and  the  Queen. 

Letter  xin  is  about  the  dangers  of  the  carriage  of  the  letters, 
and  Letter  xiv  about  the  disagreements  between  King  James  and 
his  wife  in  some  respects,  especially  in  matters  of  religion. 

In  Letter  xv  Howard  tells  the  Earl  of  Mar,  "In  this  place  all 
is  quietness,  and  hath  been  without  disturbance,  since  Cobham  by 
sickness,  and  Raleigh  by  direction  were  absent  from  Court.  The 
Queen  our  sovereign  was  never  so  gallant  these  many  years,  nor 
so  set  on  jollity."  This  must  have  been  at  the  beginning  of  Sep- 
tember, 1602,  as  the  letter  mentions  the  wound  received  by  Sir 
Francis  Vere. 

A  letter  of  Mr  Edward  Bruce  to  Lord  Henry  Howard  tells  us 
"The  Earle  of  Southampton  hath  written  to  30  ane  earnest  letter 

1  Letter  xii. 


252     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

for  a  warrant  of  his  libertie  immediatelie  upon  24  (Elizabeth's) 
dethe,  which  30  refuseth  to  grant  without  consent  and  authoritie 
of  the  Council,  and  is  to  write  to  him  to  deale  by  way  of  supplication 
to  the  Council,  and  what  they  advise  him  to  do  shall  be  performed 
with  diligence;  it  is  enjoyned  to  you  by  30  to  speak  with  10,  and 
if  he  find  it  expedient  to  enlarge  him,  and  that  his  present  service 
may  be  of  any  use  in  the  State,  he  shall  be  content,  and  assents  he 
be  presentlie  relieved  oth.erways  to  let  him  stay  till  further  resolution 
be  taken  for  the  best  course  in  the  business."  The  letter  is  undated, 
but,  as  it  alludes  to  the  Queen's  imminent  danger,  it  can  be  placed. 

On  January  I2th,  1602-3,  Cecil  wrote  to  Raleigh  a  friendly 
letter  about  the  ship  Fortune  under  Captain  Richard  Gifford,  which, 
having  acted  as  a  pirate,  is  to  be  confiscated  to  the  Admiral.  He 
asks  Raleigh  to  inspect  her,  to  fit  her  out  again,  and  says  that  he 
would  be  willing  to  take  the  third  share  of  the  adventure  in  her 
with  Cobham  and  Raleigh.  "  I  pray  you  as  much  as  may  be  conceal 
our  adventure,  at  least  my  name  above  any  other."1 

On  February  I2th,  1602-3,  Father  Rivers  notes  that  "The 
Earl  of  Southampton  in  the  Tower  is  newly  recovered  of  a  dangerous 
disease,  but  in  no  hope  of  Liberty."2  Two  years  and  more  had 
passed  since  he  entered  the  Traitor's  Gate.  The  Queen  remembered 
Still  that  disastrous  day.  She  had  four  special  causes  of  trouble  at 
the  time.  Rumours  of  what  Arabella  Stuart  had  done,  or  was  about 
to  do,  made  her  fretfully  impatient;  knowledge  that  the  love  of  her 
people  had  gone  from  her  grieved  her;  information  that  the  Earl 
of  Tyrone  was  willing  to  submit  on  the  same  terms  that  Essex 
had  offered  him  (and  these  alone)  put  her  in  a  state  of  Royal  wrath. 
Was  it  for  this  she  had  degraded  and  destroyed  her  old  favourite,  to 
have  but  two  years  more  of  loss  of  men  and  money,  of  energy  and 
thought,  and  to  have  no  more  than  he  could  have  secured  so  long 
ago  ?  She  absolutely  refused  to  consider  it.  Then  she  was  forced 
to  consider.  Her  Lord  Treasurer  Sackville  and  Sir  John  Fortescue 
wrote  to  her3  that  her  Treasury  was  empty,  and  money  was 
needed  for  the  Irish  wars.  She  raged  at  them  and  their  announce- 
ment so  violently  that  they  were  afraid  to  appear  in  Court.  What 
was  to  be  done?  She  could  not  afford  to  fight  any  longer,  and  she 

1  Salisb.  Papers,  xn.  599,  625.  z  Foley's  Eng.  Jes.  vol.  I. 

3  D.S.S.P.  Eliz.  CCLXXXVII.  52. 


PLATE    V 


THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON,  WHILE  A  PRISONER  IN  THE  TOWER 

(At  Welbeck  Abbey) 


xvn]          THE  PASSING  OF  THE  TUDORS  .         253 

had  perforce  grudgingly  to  pardon  Tyrone.  The  dimming  of  her 
eyesight  seemed  to  open  her  inward  eyes.  It  dawned  upon  her  that 
her  judgment  had  been  wrong,  that  others  had  deceived  her,  that  it 
would  have  been  better  for  the  country  as  well  as  for  herself  if 
she  had  saved  her  hero's  life.  "Our  Queen  doth  love  to  sit  alone 
in  the  darkness,  and  bewail  with  tears,  the  death  of  Essex,"  said  a 
servant1.  Then  something  mysterious  happened.  The  Countess 
of  Nottingham,  wife  of  the  Lord  Admiral,  was  very  ill,  and  begged 
the  Queen  to  come  and  see  her.  The  Queen  came,  and  was  much 
affected.  She  had  loved  her  faithful  subject  well.  But  she  went 
home  and  mourned,  with  a  new  passion,  for  Essex,  and  she  felt  at 
last  that  she  too,  Queen  though  she  might  be,  was  but  a  mortal. 
Was  there  some  foundation  for  the  story  of  the  ring  the  Queen  had 
given  Essex  2  ? 

Early  in  March,  1 602-3,  Sir  Robert  Cecil  wrote  to  Sir  John 
Cary  of  the  death  of  the  Countess  of  Nottingham,  and  of  the 
beginning  of  Elizabeth's  last  illness. 

By  the  Qth  of  March  the  ambassadors  and  gossip-mongers  of 
the  country  were  spreading  the  great  news,  and  all  Europe  listened. 
The  Queen  was  ill — seriously  ill — a  disease  without  a  name,  or 
rather  a  combination  of  diseases.  "I  am  not  ill,  and  yet  I  cannot 
eat!"  she  said,  bewildered.  Then,  she  could  not  sleep.  Her  phy- 
sicians might  have  said,  as  Lady  Macbeth's  did, 

Not  so  sick... 

As  she  is  troubled  with  thick-coming  fancies 
That  keep  her  from  her  rest. 

She  refused  to  go  to  bed,  for  she  thought  that  it  was  there  "she 
saw  things."  She  had  cushions  laid  on  the  floor,  and  tried  to  rest 
She  refused  physic. 

The  Lord  Admiral  mourned  bitterly  for  his  wife  and  kept  his 
chamber;  but  he  had  to  leave  it,  for  the  Queen  missed  him  and 
trusted  him  more  than  the  others.  He  coaxed  her  to  try  to  take 
a  little  broth;  he  urged  her  to  go  to  bed,  to  take  more  rest.  At  last 
she  yielded  and  went.  She  listened  patiently  and  hopefully  to  the 
ministrations  of  the  clergy,  and  then  she  slept. 

1  Strickland's  Elizabeth,  p.  765. 

2  Ibid.  p.  772  and  Lady  Elizabeth  Spelman's  narrative,  Francis  Osborne's 
Memoirs. 


254  THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON  [CH.XVII 

The  Lord  Admiral  had  the  courage  to  ask  her  whom  she  would 
have  as  her  successor.  She  said  "her  throne  had  always  been  the 
seat  of  Kings,  none  but  a  King  should  sit  in  it."  Already  she  had 
said  to  the  Duke  of  Sully,  when  ambassador  of  Henry  IV  of 
France,  "that  it  was  well  she  had  not  married,  for  now  her  successor 
would  govern  the  whole  of  Great  Britain."1  She  lingered  more 
than  three  weeks.  During  all  that  time  she  made  no  sign  that  she 
ever  troubled  her  head  about  the  fate  of  Southampton,  who  had 
so  greatly  loved  her  Essex.  During  ten  years  she  had  left  un- 
rewarded and  unappreciated  his  deeds  of  valour;  she  had  over- 
severely  punished  his  faults;  she  had  left  his  youth  to  be  drained 
from  him  in  the  Tower.  Never  more  would  men  call  him  "the 
young  Earl  of  Southampton."  Even  then,  she  did  not  pardon 
him,  together  with  Tyrone,  for  the  sake  of  her  lamented  Essex, 
his  friend.  There  was  a  time  of  tension  in  the  Court  and  in  the 
country,  even  more  so  in  the  Tower,  where  languishing  prisoners 
waited  feverishly  for  a  general  amnesty  from  a  new  sovereign.  Cecil 
had  taken  every  step  necessary  to  keep  the  peace;  he  had  in  his 
pocket  the  proclamation,  which  James  had  already  seen  and 
approved;  and  he,  like  all  others,  waited.  A  ring  of  courtiers  stood 
around  the  room;  a  group  of  weeping  women  knelt  around  the 
bed,  in  which  the  Queen  peacefully  slept  through  the  night  of  the 
23rd  of  March  till  the  early  morning  of  the  24th.  Then,  between 
2  and  3  o'clock,  the  Angel  of  Death  slipped  through  their  ranks, 
and  bore  her  away  unconsciously  from  the  care  of  the  Angel  of 
Sleep.  At  once  everything  awoke  into  ordered  activity,  while  Sir 
Robert  Carey  stole  out  through  the  gates  to  bear  secretly  a  blue 
ring  from  Lady  Scrope  to  the  King  of  Scotland,  on  fleet  dark 
horses  through  the  long  north  miles. 

Speed  says:  "Queen  Elizabeth's  celebrations  were  such  that 
future  ages  will  somewhat  stagger  and  doubt  as  to  whether  they 
were  rather  affectionately  poetical  than  faithfully  historical."  We 
need  not  attempt  even  to  give  examples  of  the  lamentations  here. 

1  Sully 's  Memoirs,  2nd  volume,  I2th  book,  p.  80,  edition  1747. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

THE  COMING  OF  THE  KING 

THE  almost  universal  sorrow  felt  for  the  loss  of  the  English 
Queen  was  intensified  by  the  fact  that  the  inheritance  did  not 
follow  on  its  usual  lines.  The  people  had  not  been  given  the 
opportunity  of  seeing  the  heir  and  of  preparing  him  for  the 
duties  of  their  throne.  James  had  been  brought  up  as  an  alien, 
in  an  alien  country,  with  alien  customs  and  laws.  He  had 
nominally  reigned  since  his  infancy,  in  all  36  years,  as  heir  to 
the  Stuart  Kings,  before  he  travelled  south  to  become  heir  of  the 
Tudor  sovereigns.  The  people  he  came  to  govern,  though  glad 
of  a  peaceable  succession,  were  not,  even  at  first,  quite  satisfied 
with  him,  and  they  became  less  so  as  he  lived.  Yet  on  the  whole 
they  looked  on  him  more  unfavourably  than  he  deserved.  If  he 
was  inclined  to  despotism,  he  was  only  following  his  Tudor  pre- 
decessors. He  was  unwise  enough  to  express  his  views  of  the 
Divine  Right  of  Kings  in  print,  so  that  all  might  read  in  cool 
blood  claims  which  they  would  never  have  resisted  under  Henry  and 
Elizabeth.  If  he  did  not  understand  English  political  theories,  it 
was  greatly  the  fault  of  Cecil,  who,  accustomed  for  so  many  years  to 
pull  the  strings  of  government,  did  not  attempt  to  teach  him,  but 
encouraged  his  sovereign  to  go  and  enjoy  himself  at  the  chase,  that 
he  might  himself  be  free  to  continue  in  his  old  methods.  If  James 
was  blamed  as  extravagant,  he  had  a  wife  and  family  to  keep  as  well 
as  himself,  and  that  wife  was  generally  extravagant,  and  especially 
in  her  costly  amusement  of  masques.  The  value  of  money  had 
depreciated.  He  had  come  into  England  with  a  belief  in  its  inex- 
haustible wealth,  a  belief  increased  by  the  enthusiastic  welcome  he 
received  from  his  subjects  in  the  north.  His  gratitude  expressed  itself 
in  disproportionate  liberality;  his  very  "  making  of  Knights,"  at 
first,  was  but  an  attempt  to  please  those  who  pleased  him.  But  he 
soon  found,  as  we  have  seen,  that  the  Treasury  was  empty,  and 
he  did  not  stop  his  extravagance.  The  Royal  income  did  not 


256    THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON    [CH. 

come  in  freely  or  regularly.  Some  scorned  him  for  his  cowardice. 
In  that  he  did  not  resemble  his  Stuart  ancestors,  who  were  brave 
to  the  last.  But  the  second  strain  of  Tudor  blood  in  him  came  to 
him  vitiated  by  the  feeble  health  and  loose  life  of  young  Darnley, 
and  the  pre-natal  effects  of  his  mother's  experiences  hardened  hi* 
whole  life.  There  must  have  been  some  of  the  heroic  strain  left 
in  him  when  he  took  ship  and  dared  "the  devil  and  the  deep 
sea"  to  go  and  bring  home  his  Danish  bride  amid  the  winter 
storms,  and  heroically  endured  the  difficulties  of  his  return.  He 
was  a  patient  and  faithful  husband  to  her  all  her  life. 

One  really  feels  that  his  English  subjects  must  have  been 
repelled  by  his  speech.  The  southern  Scots  had  built  up  their 
language  from  the  Anglian  dialect;  the  English  had  built  up  theirs 
from  the  Saxon  dialect.  English  people  are  proverbially  impatient 
with  languages  they  do  not  understand.  When  the  Anglian  dialect 
came  to  them  with  the  rough  northern  accent,  they  must  have 
found  it  as  unpleasant,  and  as  difficult  to  be  understood  at  times 
as  Dutch  Even  the  English  pronunciation  of  Latin  was  different 
from  that  of  other  nations. 

Yet  there  were  certain  advantages  in  James  which  have  not 
perhaps  been  duly  appreciated,  because  of  dwelling  so  much  on 
his  deficiencies.  He  did  not  come  empty-handed,  he  came  with  a 
kingdom  in  his  pocket,  to  bring  union  instead  of  wars,  to  add  a 
fourth  foot  to  a  throne  that  had  hitherto  stood  on  three  (and  one 
of  them  very  shaky).  The  unity  necessarily  made  of  the  country  a 
new  thing,  a  Great  Britain  (a  phrase,  as  noted  by  Miss  Strickland, 
first  used  by  Queen  Elizabeth). 

His  objection  to  war  was  partly  an  economic  one;  he  had 
to  pay  Elizabeth's  debts  for  her  wars.  He  was  learned  above  the 
average,  and  encouraged  learning,  not  only  of  classics,  but  of 
science,  to  which  he  added  an  entirely  new  interest  in  natural 
history;  his  delight  was  to  collect  new  animals  from  foreign 
countries.  He  had  new  ideas  regarding  commerce  and  national 
improvement.  He  eagerly  desired  to  introduce  silk-growing  and 
weaving  into  this  country;  he  superintended  his  silkworms  him- 
self, and  had  a  groom  of  the  chamber  (called  Lecavell)  to  carry 
some  about  with  him  to  study.  For  their  sakes  he  imported  a 
shipload  of  young  mulberry  trees  in  1609,  and  we  know,  from 


xvin]  THE  COMING  OF  THE  KING  257 

the  survivors  of  that  cargo,  that  Shakespeare's  mulberry  tree 
could  have  lived  on  till  to-day  if  it  had  been  let  alone.  He  had 
wider  ideas  of  art  and  literature.  One  ancestor  was  a  poet,  but 
James  I  is  probably  the  only  King  who  has  tried  to  lead  his 
subjects  to  exercise  their  poetic  powers,  as  he  did  in  his  Estate 
of  a  Prentice  in  the  Divine  art  of  Poesie.  He  recognised  dramatists 
as  poets,  actors  as  artists,  and  both  as  gentlemen.  He  honoured 
Shakespeare  more  than  Elizabeth  had  ever  done,  or  ever  would 
have  done;  he  honoured  Bacon  more  as  a  man  of  science  than 
as  an  official;  he  was  interested  in  Southampton  as  the  survivor 
of  a  romantic  and  tragic  "rising"  (which  he  supposed  to  have 
been  in  his  own  favour).  Hence,  he  advanced  the  young  Earl  and 
favoured  him  at  first  as  much  as  he  himself  desired,  and  afterwards 
as  much  as  Salisbury  allowed.  Later  what  good  qualities  he  had 
gradually  deteriorated  through  submitting  his  will  to  that  of  self- 
seeking  favourites.  The  noble  Catholic  subject,  whom  the  King 
had  fondly  believed  he  had  converted,  had  in  turn  to  try  to  teach 
his  King,  with  all  due  deference  and  loyalty,  that  the  meaning  of 
Protestantism  is  religious  freedom  and  political  liberty  for  each 
individual  subject,  whether  under  King  or  under  Pontiff.  We 
are  only  concerned  here  with  King  James  and  his  life  as  a  back- 
ground to  Southampton's  life.  That  conglomeration  of  incon- 
gruous elements  which  has  been  called  the  King's  character 
remains  yet  to  be  sufficiently  studied  and  duly  estimated. 

Sir  Robert  Carey  had  galloped  to  the  north  at  dawn  on  the  24th 
of  March  in  hot  haste,  proclaiming  James  twice  by  the  way,  and 
giving  all  news  to  his  brother,  Sir  John  Carey,  Governor  of 
Berwick.  He  reached  Holyrood  late  on  Saturday  the  26th1.  The 
King  had  gone  to  bed,  but  he  saw  the  overspent  courier,  who 
brought  the  sign  of  the  blue  ring2.  Next  day,  the  27  th,  the  news 
was  announced  in  the  churches.  Cecil  had  prepared  a  more 
dignified  and  suitable  form  of  announcement  by  sending  Sir 
Charles  Percy  and  Mr  Somerset  to  Scotland,  and  Sir  Henry 
Danvers  to  Ireland. 

A  busy  week  followed,  both  in  London  and  in  Edinburgh.  The 
earliest  mention  of  Southampton's  name  occurs  in  a  deposition 

1  D.S.S.P.  James,  I.  2. 

2  Dec.  Ace.  Treas.  Ch.,  Aud.  Off.  387,  40. 


s.s. 


258     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

of  the  time,  a  striking  example  of  how  false  news  may  be 
coined l. 

The  information  of  John  Arkinstall,  trumpeter,  taken  before  the  Con- 
stables of  the  Town  of  Lewes :  Upon  Sunday  being  the  27th  of  March  being 
with  Richard  Archer,  Barker,  and  Anthony  Word,  his  fellows  (being  all  four 
Common  Players  of  Interludes,  shewing  a  Licence  to  authorize  them)  were 
lodging  at  an  Inn  in  Hastings  in  Sussex,  and  one  Holland  a  Schoolmaster  at 
Rye,  who  served  a  cure  under  Dr  Joy,  at  Brightling,  came  into  their  com- 
pany and  said  that  the  King  of  Scotland  had  been  proclaimed  King  at 
London,  and  after  the  King  was  proclaymed,  then  my  Lord  Beauchamp 
was  proclaymed  by  one  who  was  then  at  liberty,  and  being  asked  who  that 
was,  said,  "by  the  Earl  of  Southampton  and  that  he,  the  said  Holland  had 
a  great  Horse,  and  would  have  a  Saddle,  and  spend  his  blood  in  the  Lord 
Beauchamp's  behalf."  2 

Nothing  further  is  heard  of  the  matter,  but  we  know  that  the 
"Earl  of  Southampton"  was  out  of  that  trouble. 

Manningham,  who,   in    his    Diary,   had,    on    February   2nd, 
recorded 

At  our  Feast  we  had  a  play  Twelfth  Night  or  What  you  Will,  much  like 
the  Comedy  of  Errors,  like  Menoechmi,  but  most  like  to  that  in  Italian 
called  Inganni — 

noted  in  March  1602,  after  the  Queen's  death,  that 

on  the  occasion  of  the  demise  of  a  Sovereign,  the  Lord  Mayor  remains  the 
Chief  Subject  in  the  Country;  for  all  other  officers  had  their  appointments 
only  during  their  Sovereign's  lifetime3. 

He  also  adds: 

One  wishes  that  the  Earl  of  Southampton  and  some  others  were  pardoned 
and  at  liberty;  others  could  be  content  some  men  of  great  place  might  pay 
the  Queen's  debts,  because  they  gathered  enough  under  her. 

The  State  Papers  contain  relatively  few  notices  of  the  events 
which  immediately  followed  this  great  crisis.    A  sort  of  inter- 

1  MSS.  of  Rye  Corporation.    Hist.  MSS.  Com.  Rep.  xm.  app.  IV.  p.  26. 
March  3oth,  1603. 

2  The  Statutes  which  remained  in  force  till  nearly  a  twelvemonth  after 
the  accession  of  James  I  vested  the  legal  right  in  Edward  Seymour,  Lord 
Beauchamp,  the  eldest  son  of  the  Earl  of  Hertford  by  Lady  Catharine 
Grey,  from  whom  her  son  inherited  the  Suffolk  claim.  See  Sir  Harris  Nicolas, 
The  Chronology  of  History  (Cabinet  Cyclopaedia,  1833),  p.  320. 

3  Page  18. 


xvmj  THE  COMING  OF  THE  KING  259 

regnum  took  place  in  the  Privy  Council  Registers,  but  we  know 
that  Cobham  and  Grey,  and  also  Raleigh,  signed  the  common  letter 
of  the  Council  to  the  King  on  the  26th l.  Manningham  would  be 
pleased  to  know  how  near  Southampton  was  to  liberty.  The  tenth 
day  after  King  James  learnt  of  his  new  power,  having  settled  a 
special  government  for  Scotland  in  his  absence  and  prepared  the 
order  of  his  going,  he  had  written  the  letter  which  carried  release2. 
And  it  may  be  noted  that  it  was  the  last  thing  he  did  in  his 
Scottish  Palace;  for  he  left  that  day,  the  5th  of  April.  He  was  at 
Berwick  by  the  6th. 

The  King's  letter  to  the  Nobility,  Peers  and  Councillors  was 
practically  an  order  for  release: 

Although  we  are  now  resolved,  as  well  in  regard  of  the  great  and  honest 
affection  borne  unto  us  by  the  Erie  of  Southampton  as  in  respect  of  his  good 
parts  enabling  him  for  ye  service  of  us,  and  ye  state,  to  extend  our  grace  and 
favour  towards  him,  whom  we  perceive  also  ye  late  Queene  our  sister,  not- 
withstanding his  fault  towards  her,  was  moved  to  exempt  from  the  stroke 
of  justice,  nevertheless  because  we  would  be  loathe  in  such  a  case  as  this 
wherein  the  peeres  of  our  Realme  have  proceeded  in  the  honorable  formes 
used  in  lyke  cases,  to  take  any  such  course  as  maie  not  stand  with  our  greatnes 
and  the  gravity  fitt  to  be  observed  in  such  matters,  we  have  thoughte  meet 
to  give  you  notice  of  our  pleasure  (though  ye  same  be  to  be  executed  by 
our  owne  regal  power)  which  is  only  this :  Because  the  place  is  unwholesome 
and  dolorous  to  hym  to  whose  bodye  and  mynde  we  would  give  present 
comforte,  intending  unto  him  much  further  grace  and  favour,  we  have 
written  to  ye  Lieutenant  of  ye  Tower  to  deliver  him  out  of  prison  presently 
to  goe  to  any  such  place  as  he  shall  choose  in  or  neare  our  cytye  of  London, 
there  to  carry  himself  in  such  quiet  and  honest  forme  as  we  knowe  he 
will  think  meete  in  his  owne  discrecion,  until  the  body  of  our  state,  now 
assembled,  shall  come  unto  us,  att  which  tyme  we  are  pleased  he  shall  also 
come  to  our  presence,  for  that  as  yt  is  on  us  that  his  onlie  hope  dependeth, 
soe  we  will  reserve  those  workes  of  further  favours  untill  the  tyme  hee  be- 
holdeth  our  owne  eies,  whereof  as  wee  knowe  the  comforte  will  be  great 
unto  hym  soe  yt  will  bee  contentment  to  us  to  have  opportunitye  to  declare 
our  estymacion  of  hym  in  anye  thereto  belonging  wherein  ye  shall  be  doubt- 
full,  wee  have  now  by  our  letters  directed  our  servant  the  Lord  of  Kinlosse 
to  give  you  satysfaccion,  whoe  bothe  before  his  coming  in  parte,  and  nowe  by 
these  our  letters  sent  after  him,  is  best  instructed  therein.  We  have  alsoe 
written  to  our  aforesaid  Leiftenant  for  the  present  delivery  of  Sir  Henry 


1  D.S.S.P.  James,  i.  i.   Cecil  Papers,  n.  14. 

2  Nichols'  Prog.  i.  60. 


17—2 


260     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

Neville  Knight,  whom  we  are  pleased  you  of  your  counsell  shall  bring  with 
you,  when  you  shall  wayte  upon  us. 

From  our  Palace  at  Holyrood  House  the  5th  of  April  1603, 

JAMES  REX 

To  our  trustie  and  right  well-beloved  ye  nobilitie  and  peeres  of  our 
Realme  of  England,  and  to  our  right  trustie,  and  welbeloved  our  Coun- 
cillors of  State  now  assembled  at  White  Hall1. 

Edward  Bruce,  afterwards  Lord  Kinloss,  soon  joined  the  Council. 
He  and  Cecil  together  wrote  on  the  gth  of  April  that  they  had 
stayed  the  journey  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  who  was  conducting  a 
great  many  suitors  to  meet  the  King  2. 

Manningham,  continuing  his  journal,  notes: 

loth  April  1603,  I  heard  that  the  Earl  of  Southampton  and  Sir  Henry 
Neville  were  set  at  large  yesterday  from  the  Tower3. 

The  loth  is  the  date  always  given,  but  Manningham  must  be 
correct.  The  King's  letter  probably  reached  the  Lieutenant  at 
night,  and  he  set  the  two  prisoners  free  at  once,  con  amore.  The 
letter  to  the  Council  would  reach  the  Court  the  following  morning, 
and  the  news  would  be  formally  announced.  I  take  it  that  this 
was  the  occasion  on  which  the  Countess  Dowager  of  Southampton 
sent  her  undated  letter  to  Cecil: 

Sir  I  colde  now  hate  myselfe  and  sexe  that  barres  me  from  shewing  my 
love  to  you  as  most  I  wolde,  yet  as  I  can,  I  dessyr  to  assure  you  that  no 
alteracion  of  tyme  or  fortune  (that  is  far  from  you)  can  make  me  forget  my 
bond  to  you  for  me  and  myne,  who  under  God  breathe  by  your  menes. 
God  give  him  menes,  as  I  believe  he  hath  mynd,  to  be  trewely  thankful  to 
Him  and  you.  Greve  not  yourselfe  to  hurt,  for  that  cann  not  be  recalled, 
let  it  be  your  comfort,  your  own  trew  worthyness  has  made  you  more  hapy 
(thoughe  for  the  present  less  greate).  All  wysse  and  honest  give  you  dew 
commendacion  for  your  exceeding  wysdome  and  temper  in  the  carage  of 
this  great  cause.  God  I  doubt  not  wyll  blyss  you  and  your  services  for  that 
endevore  and  I  wyll  remaine  whyll  I  have  breth  your  trewe  thankful  frynd. 

M.  SOUTHAMPTON*. 

But,  before  the  I  oth,  Southampton's  conditions  were  improved. 
The  death  of  the  Queen  thawed  the  ice  in  the  Tower.  The 

1  Add.  MS.  33,051,  f.  53,  also  34,395,  f.  46.  Also  Tanner  MS.  75,  f.  63. 
Stowe  MS.  156,  f.  45. 

1  D.S.S.P.  James  I,  I.  10.  3  Diary,  p.  168. 

4  Cecil  Papers,  xcvii.  115.   Salisb.  Papers,  xn.  562. 


xvmj  THE  COMING  OF  THE  KING  261 

prisoner's  friends  flocked  to  him,  and  the  Lieutenant  made  no 
difficulty.  Beyond  his  mother  and  wife  and  little  daughter  Penelope, 
we  can  almost  surely  name  some  of  them;  Lady  Rich  would  be 
there,  with  a  choke  in  her  voice  as  she  thought  of  the  last  day  she 
had  met  him,  with  her  brother;  Sir  William  Harvey,  his  step- 
father; John  Florio,  the  resolute,  who  had  seen  his  former  master 
through  his  troubles  with  theDanvers;  Sir  Henry  Danvers  himself, 
still  mourning  his  brother's  loss;  the  Arundels,  Sir  Thomas  and 
his  wife  (Southampton's  sister  Mary);  his  cousin  Anthony,  Viscount 
Montague;  Sir  Henry  Howard  would  have  been  there  too,  but  he 
was  off  to  meet  the  King;  Rutland  and  his  brothers,  and  Joscelyn 
Percy. 

And  it  is  possible  his  poet  Shakespeare  would  peep  in  to  see, 
rather  than  to  address,  him  in  the  crowd. 

One  person  whom  we  know  to  have  eagerly  presented  himself, 
and  who  was  not  at  first  welcomed,  was  Sir  John  Davies,  formerly 
Master  of  the  Ordnance  in  the  Tower.  It  may  be  remembered 
that  he  was  one  of  the  most  trusted  of  Essex's  followers;  that,  when 
Essex  went  into  the  city,  he  left  the  charge  of  the  Queen's  mes- 
sengers to  him  and  Sir  Gelly  Meyrick.  They  were  both  obedient 
to  their  leader  and  would  not  have  let  the  Lords  leave,  in  spite  of 
the  long  delay,  had  not  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges  come  back,  as  if  from 
Essex,  and  ordered  their  keepers  to  release  the  Lords,  going  back 
with  them  to  the  Court.  Both  Meyrick  and  Davies  were  condemned, 
and  the  first  was  executed.  Davies  escaped,  no  one  knew  how,  but 
the  rumour  went  abroad  that  he  had  purchased  his  own  life  by 
informing  on  others.  As  they  concern  Lord  Southampton  so 
closely  at  this  time,  I  think  it  is  wise  to  include  two  letters  here 
(though  written  a  little  later)  and  let  them  speak  for  themselves — 
the  one  an  impromptu  letter,  and  the  other  written  according  to 
order.  In  what  is  apparently  the  earlier,  Davies  tells  Sir  Robert  Cecil 
that  he  could  not  understand  by  what  means  a  strange  imputation 
had  been  laid  upon  him  concerning  the  Earl  of  Essex's  trouble1. 
He  had  given  his  friends  a  true  account;  to  those  prejudiced  against 
him  he  desires  to  be  silent  (his  innocence  would  appear  later), 
rather  than  to  revive  those  matters  which  he  knew  would  not  be 
pleasing  to  the  State. 

1  Add.  MS.  6177/181. 


262     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

Since  the  Queen's  death,  out  of  the  exceeding  desire  I  had  to  give  a  true 
and  full  satisfaction  unto  my  Lord  of  Southampton,  whose  noble  favour  I 
have  so  highly  prized  and  as  much  sought  to  obtayne  as  it  is  possible  within 
the  compass  of  my  witt  and  means,  I  made  a  full  relation  of  all  these  passages 
before  his  coming  out  of  the  Tower.  His  Lordship  was  then  content  honor- 
ably to  free  me  from  all  falsehood  and  malice  towards  my  Lord  of  Essex  and 
himself;  yet  intimated  error  and  weakness  in  being  over-credulous  to  Sir 
Walter  Rawley's  othes,  who,  the  better  to  gaine  my  confession  had  sworn 
unto  me  that  Sir  Ferd.  Gorges  had  confessed  all,  and  alleged  some  parti- 
culars of  our  projects  at  Drury  House,  as  the  possessing  of  the  Courte  and  the 
calling  of  a  Parliament,  which,  as  his  Lordship  said,  Sir  Ferd:  Gorges  denied 
to  be  his  confession,  but  it  was  thrust  into  the  book  among  other  untruths. 
Since  that  time,  upon  the  continuance  of  his  Lordship's  disfavour  (as  I 
tooke  it)  because  his  followers  continued  much  to  wrong  me,  at  my  coming 
to  the  Court  in  Mr  Cromwell's  house,  in  the  Presence  Chamber  before  my 
Lord  Harry  Howard,  I  besought  his  Lordship's  favour  again,  made  repetition 
of  my  carriage  in  that  business  and  brought  it  to  the  same  pass  again,  that 
his  Lordship  in  his  honor  and  conscience,  did  clear  me  as  before  from  malice 
or  falsehood,  but  could  not  take  off  the  tax  of  error  or  weakness,  which  I 
tolde  his  Lordship  was  as  heavy  to  me  as  villainy  or  treachery.  I  could  with 
as  much  willingness  undergo  the  one  as  the  other  and  therefore  humbly 
besought  him  better  to  esteem  my  judgment  and  discretion,  than  to  think 
I  could  be  so  overtaken,  for,  it  appeared  to  be  his  true  confession  by  the 
testimony  of  my  Lord  Keeper,  my  Lord  Treasurer,  my  Lord  Admirall  and 
your  Honour.  His  Lordship,  upon  the  naming  of  my  Lord  Admirall  and 
yourself,  was  pleased  to  come  unto  this  honorable  conclusion,  that  if  the 
confession  which  is  published  to  be  taken  on  the  1 6th  February,  be  testified 
by  your  Honors  to  be  Sir  Ferd.  Gorges'  true  confession,  that  then  his  Lord- 
ship would  acquit  me  of  all  and  be  content  no  less  worthily  to  esteeme  me 
than  he  had  formerly  donne,  which  condition  I 'also  accepted,  and  therefore 
humbly  beseech  you  (by  the  same  honor  whereby  you  nobly  saved  my  life) 
justly  to  determine  this  controversie,  the  matter  being  absolutely  referred 
to  my  Lord  Admirall  and  yourself. 

So  I  ever  reste  your  Honors  most  faithful  servant, 

J.  DAVIS. 
[Undated.] 

The  other,  from  Sir  John  Davies  to  Lord  Cecil^  runs: 

According  unto  your  Lordship's  direction,  I  wrote  unto  you,  signifying 
what  had  passed  from  my  Lord  of  Southampton,  how  farre  his  Lordship 
has  charged  me,  yet  was  honorably  pleased  to  remove  that  tax  likewise,  if 
so  be  my  Lord  Admirall  and  your  Lordship  advertised  him  that  that  was 
Sir  Ferd.  Gorges'  true  confession.  How  much  I  have  thought  to  obtayne 


xvmj  THE  COMING  OF  THE  KING  263 

his  most  noble  favour,  his  Lordship  can  best  witness,  having  used  all  the 
meanes  that  I  could  possibly  devise. 

Since  it  is  intimated  unto  me,  that  his  Lordship  should  be  informed, 
that  I  should  applie  myself  to  some,  between  whom  and  his  Lordship  there 
is  not  so  much  kindness  as  were  to  be  wished — to  lose  the  favour  or  friend- 
ship of  any  noble  and  worthy  gentleman  were  but  small  discretion  in  me, 
considering  the  strange  practises  for  my  disgrace  that  have  binne  of  late 
against  me,  but  to  make  any  particular  donation  of  my  service  to  any  man 
living,  I  must  call  God  to  witness  I  never  have  done,  but  only  to  your 
Lordship,  knowing  that  the  obligation  whereby  your  Lordship  hath  bounde 
me  is  no  less  than  my  life,  which  is  more  than  I  hope  ever  to  receive  from 
any  man  againe,  so  that  if  my  Lord  of  Southampton  be  assured  to  your 
Lordship  he  cannot  make  any  doute  but  that  I  must  ever  be  faithful  to 
him.  Therefore  I  humbly  beseeche  your  Lordship  to  be  the  Mediator  for 
his  noble  favour,  which  I  will  never  faill  honestly  to  deserve  by  so  worthy 
servyce  as  shall  be  in  my  power  to  performe.  So  with  my  prayers  for  your 
Lordship's  continual  increase  in  honor  and  happinesse  I  ever  rest  your 
Lordship's  faithful  servant  T  ^  , 

J.  DAVIS1. 

Another  letter  was  addressed  directly  to  Southampton  by  a 
man  whom  no  one  would  expect  to  have  done  so — the  writer 
of  The  Declaration  of  the  practises  and  treasons  attempted  and 
committed  by  Robert,  late  Earl  of  Essex  and  his  complices.  This 
letter  runs: 

It  may  please  your  Lordship  I  would  have  been  very  gladd  to  have  pre- 
sented my  humble  service  to  your  Lordship  by  my  attendance,  if  I  could 
have  foreseene  that  it  should  not  have  been  unpleasing  to  you.  And  there- 
fore because  I  would  commit  noe  errour,  I  choose  to  write,  assuring  your 
Lordship  (how  credible  soever  it  may  seeme  to  you  at  first)  yet  it  is  as  true 
a  thinge  that  God  Knoweth,  that  this  great  change  hath  wrought  in  me 
noe  other  change  towards  your  Lordship  than  this,  that  I  may  safely  bee 
nowe  that  which  I  was  truly  before.  And  soe  craving  noe  other  pardon 
than  for  troubling  you  with  this  letter,  I  doe  not  now  begin,  but  continue 
to  be  your  Lordship's  humble  and  much  devoted 

FRANCIS  BACON2. 

On  the  1 2th  of  April  Chamberlain  said  that  "John  Davis  was 
sworn  the  King's  man,  and  Neville  restored  to  title  and  fortune." 

On  the  1 3th  Manningham  wrote: 

The  Earl  of  Southampton  must  present  himself  with  the  nobles,  and  Sir 
Henry  Neville  with  the  Councillors,  like  either  shall  be  one  of  their  ranks3. 

1  Cecil  Papers,  en.  171.  2  Add.  MS.  5505,  f.  23^. 

8  Diary,  p.  171. 


264     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH 

Many  others  noticed  this  arrangement. 

A  letter  preserved  at  Hatfield  was  written  by  Southampton  to 
Sir  Robert  Cecil.  It  is  sealed  with  his  own  seal,  bearing  the  four 
falcons  but  has  neither  date  nor  address.  It  must  have  been  before 
Cecil  was  ennobled. 

Sir  I  am  very  sorry  you  should  have  any  occasion  to  think  unkindly  of 
Mr  Crofts,  but  being  assured  that  what  passed  from  him  to  discontent  you 
proceeded  rather  from  his  present  grief  than  out  of  any  want  of  respect,  I 
beseeche  you,  lett  me  entreat  you  to  banish  the  memory  of  it,  and  for  my 
sake  to  procure  him  by  your  meanes  the  order  of  Knighthood,  for  which  I 
shall  account  myself  exceedingly  behouldyng  to  you  to  whom  I  will  ever 
remayne  most  assured. 

H.  SOUTHAMPTON  x. 

Metcalfe's  Book  of  Knights  enters  Sir  Herbert  Croft  on  yth  May, 
1603,  Sir  James  Croft  on  23rd  July,  1603,  Sir  Henry  Croftes 
on  22nd  January,  1610.  I  do  not  know  which  of  these  might  be 
the  "Mr  Crofts"  whom  Southampton  so  earnestly  supported. 

A  Privy  Seal  granted  on  May  3ist  was  probably  the  outcome 
of  the  King's  interest  in  Southampton2.  Sir  Thomas  Heneage,  the 
second  husband  of  the  Countess  Dowager  of  Southampton,  had  left 
her  sole  executrix,  but  had  left  his  books  in  disorder  and  his  payments 
in  arrears.  Queen  Elizabeth  had  been  severe  upon  her,  and  "the 
injurious  son-in-law"  did  not  mend  matters.  Hence  the  King  to 
Sir  Thomas  Egerton: 

Whereas  Sir  Thomas  Henneage  Knight,  late  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber, 
stood  indebted  to  our  late  dear  sister  in  divers  somes  of  money  amountyng 
in  the  whole  to  the  some  of  thirteen  thousand  and  three  hundred  pounds, 
and  had  made  an  arrangement  with  Sir  Moyle  Finch  who  had  married  his 
sole  daughter  and  heir  that  if  he  survived  and  should  pay  six  hundred 
pounds  a  year  for  thirteen  years,  he  should  have  all  his  farms  houses  and 
lands,  so  as  to  pay  the  Queen's  debt  first,  and  if  any  were  over  Sir  Thomas's 
own  debts.  Since  which  time  Sir  Thomas  is  dead  and  by  his  last  will  con- 
stituted the  Lady  Mary,  Countess  of  Southampton,  his  sole  and  only  execu- 
trix. And  as  our  late  sister  considering  her  need  of  money  would  not  accept 
the  payment  of  her  debt  by  six  hundred  pounds  yearely  commanded  the 
said  Lady  Mary  to  make  payment  of  the  said  debt  owing  by  Sir  Thomas 
with  all  convenient  expedition,  which  the  said  Lady  Mary  dutifully  did 
take  order  for  the  speedy  payment  of  the  said  debt  of  thirteen  thousand 

1  Cecil  Papers,  c.  17.  a  Privy  Seal  i,  James  I,  2yth  May,  1603. 


xvm]  THE  COMING  OF  THE  KING  265 

three  hundred  pounds,  and  thereupon  hath  payd  the  same  so  as  there  was 
not  anything  remayning  due  unto  our  said  sister,  she  willed  that  the  sayd 
Lady  Mary  should  receyve  £600  paid  by  the  sayd  Moyle  Finch  into  the 
receipt  for  so  long  time  as  the  said  is  payable,  to  be  employed  by  her  either 
in  the  payment  of  Sir  Thomas'  debts  or  at  his  will  and  pleasure  by  her 
letters  Privy  Seal  dated  at  Nonesuch  2yth  day  of  August  41  Eliz.,  that  she 
should  always  pay  this  sum  to  Lady  Mary  or  her  assigns,  and  if  Sir  Moyle 
Finch  did  not  pay  the  treasurer  to  take  means  to  compel  him.  Wee  therefore 
give  you  warrant  this  is  to  be  continued.  Humble  suit  hath  been  made  by 
the  said  Lady  Mary  for  warrant  and  command  that  the  said  payments  from 
tyme  to  tyme  be  paid  over  to  her  or  her  assigns.  Given  under  our  hand 
a/th  May  in  the  first  year  of  our  reign. 
Greenwich. 

Among  the  New  Year  "Free  Giftes  out  of  the  Exchequer"  the 
first  is  "to  Mary  the  Countess  of  Southampton  £600." 1 

It  has  not  been  recorded  where,  after  his  release,  Southampton 
went  first,  as  he  had  no  home.  He  might  have  stayed  with  his  mother 
at  the  Savoy,  or  with  his  sister  at  Arundel  House,  or  he  might 
have  gone,  with  sad  memories,  to  Drury  House,  where  Sir  Charles 
Danvers  used  to  live.  It  is  not  likely  that  his  wife  would  have  kept 
up  a  separate  establishment  during  his  imprisonment.  It  must  have 
taken  a  considerable  time  to  get  his  affairs  into  practical  order,  to 
supply  suitable  clothing,  and  to  regain  health  sufficient  to  allow  him 
to  undertake  a  long  and  exciting  journey.  But,  as  John  Barbour 
begins, 

O  Fredome  is  a  noble  thing, 
It  maketh  man  to  have  likyng. 

The  King  was  at  Newcastle  on  the  day  Southampton  was 
liberated  2.  He  passed  through  York,  Worksop,  Beauvoir  Castle,  etc. 
On  Monday  the  25th  the  King  fell  and  hurt  his  arm,  and  had  to 
ride  back  to  Sir  John  Harington's  for  treatment.  On  Wednesday 
the  2/th  he  reached  Huntingdon,  where  the  Bailiff  gave  him  the 
sword  of  State.  Southampton  had  come  to  meet  him  there,  and 
James  gave  him  the  sword  to  bear  before  him.  The  King  was  the 
guest  of  Sir  Oliver  Cromwell,  who  gave  him  the  greatest  enter- 
tainment he  had  received  during  his  journey.  Had  these  three  men 
but  been  able  to  look  into  the  glass  of  Time  and  to  see  the  relations 
their  sons  would  bear  to  each  other,  they  would  have  been  astonished 

1  Nichols'  Prog.  James  I.  *  Ibid.  p.  52 


266     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

and  incredulous.  The  royal  party  thence  went  to  Sir  Robert  Cecil's 
at  Theobalds,  where  they  stayed  four  days.  The  great  officers  of 
State,  the  Lord  Keeper,  the  Lord  Admiral,  the  Lord  Treasurer, 
and  the  old  servants  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  having  buried  their  former 
mistress,  came  thither  to  meet  their  new  master.  He  went  on  the 
yth  of  May  to  London,  was  the  guest  of  Lord  Thomas  Howard 
at  the  Charter  House,  and  thence  went  to  the  Tower  on  the  nth. 
The  King  had  been  making  knights  all  the  way,  and  be  began 
to  make  lords  on  the  1 3th.  Cecil  was  the  first  of  this  rank,  as  Baron 
of  Essenden.  On  the  i6th  James  granted  Southampton  a  special 
pardon1,  with  restitution  in  blood  to  him  and  his  heirs,  and  resti- 
tution of  titles,  lands  and  property  of  all  kinds. 

The  Venetian  ambassador's  reports  of  this  period  are  worth 
study  (checking  the  dates  into  Old  Style).  He  says: 

On  his  journey  the  King  has  destined  to  great  rewards  the  Earl  of  South- 
ampton, Sir  Henry  Neville,  and  others.  He  has  received  the  12-year-old 
son  of  the  Earl  of  Essex  in  his  arms  and  kissed  him,  openly  and  loudly  de- 
claring he  was  the  son  of  the  most  noble  Knight  England  had  ever  produced. 
The  Coronation  has  been  put  off  till  the  King's  name  day;  till  then  the 
King  will  not  make  his  entry  into  London,  only  taking  possession  of  the 
Tower,  and  awaits  the  Queen  to  save  the  expense  of  a  double  coronation  2. 

Dudley  Carleton  wrote  to  Chamberlain  that 

the  plague  spread  rapidly  in  London.... Sonday  last  at  Windsor  the  King 
gave  the  order  of  the  Garter  to  Prince  Henry,  the  Duke  of  Lennox,  the 
Earl  of  Mar,  the  Earls  of  Southampton  and  Pembroke3. 

The  Venetian  added  that  the  King  had  invested  Southampton 
with  his  own  hand  with  great  pomp,  and  had  added  a  post  worth 
6000  crowns  a  year.  He  no  doubt  refers  to  the  Captaincy  of  the 
Isle  of  Wight  and  the  Stewardship  of  the  Royal  Demesnes  on 
the  Island,  in  reversion  after  Lord  Hunsdon4.  He  was  also  made 
Custos  Rotulorum  of  Hampshire. 

Cecil  had  advised  the  King  that  he  should,  in  the  first  instance, 
enter  the  Kingdom  alone,  as  the  great  ladies  and  the  Queen's 
servants  could  not  come  to  greet  his  Queen  until  after  the  funeral 
of  Elizabeth.  That  performed  on  the  28th  of  April,  amid  universal 

1  D.S.S.P.  James,  i.  84.   Patent  Rolls,  i  James,  pt.  2.   Ind.  Wt.  Bk.  p.  3. 

*  Venetian  Papers,  1603,  May  I5th,  vol.  x.  (40-66),  p.  81. 

8  D  S.S.P.  James,  n.  40.  «  Ibid.  Patent  Rolls,  14,  d. 


xvm]  THE  COMING  OF  THE  KING  267 

mourning,  the  ladies  were  free.  The  Queen  of  Scotland  was 
somewhat  delayed  by  arrangements  concerning  her  younger  children; 
but  the  King  went  out  to  meet  her  at  Sir  George  Fermor's  at 
Easton  Neston  on  June  2yth.  Among  the  great  ladies  who  there 
kissed  Queen  Anne's  hand  was  "My  Lady  of  Southampton."1 

The  Court  returned  to  Windsor  on  Thursday  the  3Oth  of  June. 
Carleton  wrote  thence  on  the  3rd  of  July: 

The  Lords  of  Southampton  and  Grey,  the  first  night  the  Queen  came 
hither,  renewed  old  quarrels,  and  fell  flatly  out  in  her  presence.  She  was  in 
discourse  with  my  Lord  of  Southampton,  touching  the  Lord  of  Essex's 
action,  and  wondered,  as  she  said,  that  so  many  great  men  did  so  little  for 
themselves;  to  which  Lord  Southampton  answered,  that  the  Queen  being 
made  a  party  against  them,  they  were  forced  to  yield;  but  if  that  course  had 
not  been  taken,  there  was  none  of  their  private  enemies,  with  whom  only 
their  quarrel  was,  that  durst  have  opposed  themselves.  This  being  over- 
heard by  Lord  Grey,  he  would  maintain  the  contrary  party  durst  have  done 
much  more  than  they,  upon  which  he  had  the  lie  at  him.  The  Queen  bade 
them  remember  where  they  were,  and  soon  after  sent  them  to  their  lodgings, 
to  which  they  were  committed  with  guards  upon  them.  The  next  day  they 
were  brought  out  and  heard  before  the  Council,  and  condemned  to  the 
Tower.  But  soon  after  the  King  sent  for  them,  and  taking  the  quarrel  upon 
him,  and  the  wrong  and  disgrace  done  to  her  Majesty,  and  not  exchanged 
between  them,  so  forgave  it  to  make  them  friends,  which  was  accordingly 
effected  and  they  set  at  liberty2. 

The  date  of  this  incident  is  significant.  Arthur  Wilson's  History 
of  Great  Britain  begins  with  the  reign  of  James.  He  says3: 

The  Earl  of  Southampton,  covered  long  with  the  ashes  of  great  Essex  his 
ruins,  was  sent  for  from  the  Tower  and  the  King  looked  on  him  with  a 
smiling  countenance;  though  displeasing  haply  to  the  new  Baron  of  Essendon 
Robert  Cecil,  yet  it  was  much  more  so  to  the  Lords  of  Cobham  and  Grey, 
and  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  who  were  forbidden  their  attendance.  This  damp 
upon  them,  being  spirits  full  of  acrimony,  made  them  break  into  murmurs, 
then  into  conspiracy  with  two  Romish  Priests. 

Wilson  describes  their  conspiracy,  arrest,  and  trial  as  "strong  proofs, 
and  weak  denials... much  muddy  water."  Raleigh's  chief  accuser 
was  Lord  Cobham,  who  afterwards  withdrew  his  charge  and  then 
reaffirmed  it. 

1  Lady  Anne  Clifford's  Diary,  Knole  MS.  Nichols'  Prog.  James  I,  p.  173. 

2  Also  Nichols'  Prog.  p.  187. 
*  History,  p.  4. 


268     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

Lodge  says  in  his  Life  of  Cecil; 

Raleigh  is  known  to  have  presented  a  memorial  to  James  on  his  arrival  in 
England  charging  Cecil  with  the  ruin  of  Essex,  and  his  father  with  the 
murder  of  Queen  Mary  of  Scots1. 

If  this  be  true,  it  was  a  very  unwise  step,  for  of  course  Cecil  would 
see  that  memorial  and  be  moved  thereby.  Raleigh  also  was  known 
to  have  used  very  imprudent  words  about  the  King.  "The  Pack" 
was  at  last  and  definitively  "broken  up." 

The  first  of  James's  personal  proclamations  was  for  the  appre- 
hension of  William  and  Patrick  Ruthven,  brothers  of  the  Earl  of 
Gowry.  The  second  was  for  the  capture  of  Anthony  Copley, 
"younger  brother  of  one  Copley,  that  is  lately  returned  from 
foreign  parts  into  this  country,  and  hath  dealt  with  some  to 
be  of  a  conspiracie  to  use  some  violence  upon  our  person,  etc." 
Anthony  Copley  was  the  recusant,  minor  poet,  and  essayist,  who 
approved  of  toleration  in  religion,  but  wanted  no  papal  rule  in 
England.  The  Court  was  shortly  afterwards  startled  by  the  news  of 
the  arrest  of  Lord  Grey  on  the  1 2th  of  July.  Sir  Walter  Raleigh, 
examined  on  the  I4th,  was  sent  to  the  Tower  on  the  iyth;  Lord 
Cobham,  George  Brooke  his  brother,  and  Anthony  Copley  joined 
him;  Griffin,  Griffith,  or  Gervase  Markham  was  looked  for. 

The  Venetian  ambassador  says: 

When  Anthony  Copley  was  arrested  he  betrayed  a  plot  of  twelve  gentle- 
men to  kill  the  King  and  some  of  the  Council;  among  these  were  Lords 
Grey  and  Cobham,  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  George  Brooke,  GrifFen  Markham, 
and  the  two  priests  Watson  and  Clarke  2. 

The  behaviour  of  Raleigh  was  very  unexpected3.  The  Lieutenant 
of  the  Tower  told  Cecil  he  had  never  seen  any  prisoner  so  distracted 
as  he.  He  protested  his  innocence  loudly,  and  yet  in  despair  at  his 
disgrace,  he  tried  to  commit  suicide  by  stabbing  himself  to  the  heart. 
He  did  not  go  deep  enough,  so  survived  to  endure  the  humiliations 
he  strove  to  escape. 

On  the  2nd  of  July  the  King  had  kept  the  feast  of  the  Garter 
at  Windsor  for  the  installation  of  the  new  knights,  Prince  Henry, 

1  Illustrations  of  History,  n.  4. 

2  Venetian  Papers,  x.  95,  101.   Harl.  MS.  293. 

3  Cecil  Papers,  ci.  85,  etc.    Winwood  Papers,  n.  8  and  n.  10.    Edward's 
Life  of  Raleigh,  I.  375. 


xvm]  THE  COMING  OF  THE  KING  269 

the  Duke  of  Lennox,  and  the  Earls  of  Southampton,  Mar,  and 
Pembroke1. 

On  the  2  ist  of  July,  in  the  Great  Hall  at  Hampton  Court,  there 
was  a  creation  of  peers,  and  Henry  Wriothesley  was  created  anew 
Earl  of  Southampton  and  Baron  of  Titchfield;  Charles  Blount, 
Lord  Mountjoy,  was  created  Earl  of  Devonshire;  Sir  Henry 
Danvers,  Lord  Danvers  of  Dauntsey.  On  the  23rd  Francis  Bacon 
was  knighted,  after  eager  efforts  to  win  the  honour;  on  the  24th 
was  issued  a  general  pardon,  with  certain  exclusions;  on  the  25th, 
the  usual  procession  through  the  city  being  omitted  because  of  the 
plague,  the  King  and  Queen  were  crowned  at  Westminster  on  the 
Stone  of  Destiny  from  Scone.  The  Earl  of  Tyrone,  now  willing 
to  submit,  had  been  brought  over  by  Lord  Mountjoy,  who  had 
followed  out  successfully  the  thwarted  plans  of  his  friend  Essex. 
Probably  it  was  in  part  through  his  connection  with  the  Earl  of 
Southampton  that  Sir  William  Harvey  was  remembered  in  July 
1603.  Among  the  Privy  Signet  Bills  for  that  month  is  found: 

The  Office  of  Remembrancer  of  the  First  Fruits  and  Tenths  in  His 
Majesties  Exchequer  with  the  usual  fees  and  allowances  thereunto  belonging 
to  Sir  William  Harvey  Knight,  one  of  his  Highness'  gentlemen  Pensioners 
during  his  Life,  after  the  decease  of  Sir  Edward  Stafford  Knight.  (Pro- 
cured by  Sir  Thomas  Lake  at  the  suit  of  Mr  Murray,  Laird  of  Tullibardine. 
Fee  6/8.) 

One  little  note  on  Southampton's  affairs  has  been  preserved  by 
Mr  Halliwell  Phillipps: 

A  conveyance  of  Land  by  the  Earl  of  Southampton  of  properly  at  Romsey, 
near  Southampton2. 

He  probably  needed  ready  money  so  sorely  that  he  had  to  realise 
what  he  could  lay  his  hands  upon.  Later  the  King  seems  to  have 
refunded  that3.  One  letter  of  the  Venetian  ambassador  should  have 
been  mentioned,  as  it  throws  some  light  upon  Southampton's 
religious  feelings.  He  says: 

Queen  Anne  has  secretly  become  a  Catholic,  though  she  goes  to  the 
heretical  church  with  her  husband.  She  insists  on  educating  her  daughter 
as  a  Catholic,  and  the  King  keeps  the  Prince  from  her,  as  much  as  he  can. 
The  King  has  made  himself  the  Head  of  the  Anglican  Church,  and  exacts 

1  Ashmole,  List  of  Garters,  p.  53. 

2  Hall.  Phill.  Short  List,  etc.,  p.  10,  no.  6. 

3  D.S.S.P.  James,  ix.  Docquet  Oct.  28th,  1604,  and  x.  63. 


270     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

the  oath.  Old  Howard,  who  has  lately  been  appointed  to  the  Council,  and 
Southampton,  who  were  both  Catholics,  declare  that  God  has  touched 
their  hearts,  and  that  the  example  of  the  King  has  more  weight  with  them 
than  the  disputes  of  Theologians.  They  have  become  Protestants,  and  go 
to  Church  in  the  train  of  the  King.  The  Plague  is  increasing,  it  is  unusually 
hot1. 

The  Royal  Progress  began  on  the  i  cth  of  August  from  Hampton 
Court  by  Loseley,  Farnham,  and  Basing  to  Hurstbourne,  on  the 
2Oth  and  2ist  to  Salisbury,  and  on  the  2gth  and  30th  to  Wilton, 
with  some  days  at  Woodstock  (nth  to  I5th  September),  then  back 
to  Basing2. 

On  August  2Oth  the  King  wrote  to  Lord  Treasurer  Buckhurst3: 

Having  directed  you  to  consider  a  suit  moved  unto  me  by  the  Earl  of 
Southampton,  for  the  farming  of  the  Import  on  Sweet  Wines  coming  into 
this  country,  at  the  rent  of  £6000,  and  received  answer  that  you  knew  of  no 
inconvenience  likely  to  arise  to  us  by  such  a  grant :  We  require  you  to  order 
the  demise  of  the  said  impost  for  a  terme  of  years,  with  such  clauses  and 
covenants  as  in  the  demise  to  the  late  Earls  of  Leicester  and  Essex,  or  with 
such  other  as  you  think  meet4.  [Draft.] 

On  the  22nd  this  grant  was  duly  made  out  to  him  in  the 
usual  form.  Strange  that  what  the  Queen  would  not  renew  to 
Essex  in  1600,  but  kept  in  her  own  hands,  should  be  given  by 
her  successor  to  Essex's  friend ! 

On  the  6th  of  October  the  King  and  Queen  were  back  at  Wilton, 
and  seem  to  have  spent  their  time  between  Wilton,  Basing,  and 
Winchester  until  the  beginning  of  December5.  On  the  loth  of 
October  Southampton  was  made  Master  of  the  Queen's  Game 
and  Keeper  of  her  Forests,  and  on  December  i  oth  Master  of  the 
King's  Game  in  Hampshire6. 

Meanwhile  Raleigh  was  examined  again,  before  Lord  Henry 
Howard,  Lord  Wotton  and  the  virulent  Sir  Edward  Coke,  on  the 
1 4th  August.  The  charges  against  him  were  urged  to  the  point  of 
treason.  Thereupon  he  wrote  a  pitiful  letter  to  the  Earls  of  South- 
ampton, Suffolk,  and  Devonshire 7,  declaring  his  innocence  of  the 

1   Venetian  Papers,  x.  par.  66.  2  Nichols'  Prog.  p.  250. 

3  D.S.S.P.  Addenda  James,  xxxv.  35.  4  D.S.S.P.  James,  m.  Docquet. 

8  Ibid.  James,  iv.  13.  6  Ibid.  James,  V.  Docquet. 
7  Raleigh's  Works,  ed.  Birch,  n.  379. 


xvm]  THE  COMING  OF  THE  KING  271 

two  main  points,  "that  he  had  been  offered  money  as  a  bribe,  and 
that  he  was  privy  to  Lord  Cobham's  Spanish  Journey." 
He  implored  their  Lordships 

not  to  leave  me  to  the  cruelty  of  the  Laws  of  England.... There  is  no  glory 
in  shedding  innocent  blood....!  know  your  Lordships  have  a  reputation  of 
conscience,  as  well  as  of  Industry....!  know  the  King  is  too  merciful  &c. 
Your  Lordships'  humble  and  miserable  suitor, 

WALTER  RALEIGH. 

I  have  not  found  any  allusion  to  their  reply.  Grey  did  not  write  to 
Southampton,  but  did  so  repeatedly  to  Cecil,  and  sometimes  directly 
to  the  King  himself.  It  was  decided  they  should  be  tried  at  Win- 
chester. In  preparation  for  that  there  was  a  warrant  signed  for 
"green  cloth  to  be  used  for  the  Arraynement  of  Lord  Graie, 
Lord  Cobham,  George  Brooke,  and  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  apud 
Civitat.  Wmton,  Baize  and  hangings."1 

The  confessions  of  Brooke  and  Raleigh  were  taken  at  Winchester 
on  November  25th,  1603.  Raleigh  unnecessarily  gave  informa- 
tion against  Cobham  which  so  enraged  his  fellow-prisoner  that 
he  charged  Raleigh  with  a  number  of  misdeeds.  He  afterwards 
confessed  that  he  had  not  spoken  the  truth  in  his  statement,  but 
again  confirmed  what  he  had  said.  There  were  two  branches  of 
the  plot,  which  had  been  planned  to  be  carried  out  on  June  24th 2 
(curiously  near  the  last  quarrel  between  Grey  and  Southampton). 
Sir  G.  Markham  had  advised  them  to  work  it  by  night,  and  to 
remember  that  the  King  was  not  King  till  he  was  crowned.  Lord 
Grey  meant  to  have  secured  a  body  of  men,  ostensibly  to  lead  to 
the  Low  Countries;  but  he  really  meant  to  use  them  for  this 
design.  He  expressed  his  desire  to  his  companions  that  afterwards 
he  should  be  made  Earl  Marshal  of  England  and  Master  of  the 
Horse.  Watson  and  the  priests  devised  a  scheme  which  was  called 
the  Bye  Plot.  Raleigh's  was  called  the  Main  Plot  "to  kill  the 
King  and  all  his  Cubs."  Whether  Raleigh  had  been  in  earnest 
or  not,  he  had  been  extremely  imprudent,  and  he  now  learned  how 
charges  can  multiply  against  a  man  at  the  bar.  The  Earl  of  South- 
ampton and  his  cousin  Lord  Montague  were  both  on  the  jury  for 
trying  Cobham  and  Grey.  All  the  conspirators  were  found  guilty 

1  Wardrobe  Accounts  Audit  Office  2345/32. 

2  Add.  MS.  34,218,  f.  226. 


272     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

on  yth  of  December.  The  priests  were  executed,  with  George 
Brooke,  who  died  accusing  his  brother  and  Raleigh.  He  seems  also 
to  have  accused  his  brother-in-law  Cecil,  since  the  latter  wrote  to 
Shrewsbury1  on  the  23rd  December  "of  the  base  and  viperous 
accusation  before  he  died";  but  this,  of  course,  was  not  believed. 
Sir  John  Harington  did  what  he  could  to  help  his  cousin, 
G.  Markham.  Harington  wrote,  "It  is  almost  incredible  with 
what  bitter  speeches  and  execrations  Raleigh  was  exclaimed  upon, 
all  the  way  he  went  through  London  and  the  towns,  which  general 
hatred  of  the  people  would  be  to  me  more  bitter  than  death."2 

The  other  three  stood  on  the  scaffold  expecting  death,  when  the 
King's  clemency  prevailed,  and,  with  a  dramatic  surprise,  their 
prayers  in  preparation  for  death  were  changed  into  thanks  for  a 
prolongation  of  life.  They  were  not  pardoned,  however,  and  were 
all  taken  back  to  the  Tower. 

During  the  course  of  these  proceedings  Southampton  had  written 
on  November  1 1  th  from  Wilton  to  Julius  Caesar,  to  hasten  the 
pardon  of  Captain  Edward  Thynne  3. 

We  may  turn  now  to  a  pleasanter  record.  Very  shortly  after  the 
King  arrived  in  the  metropolis,  while  he  was  yet  in  the  Tower,  he 
planned  a  reformation  in  the  theatre.  He  had  large  views  of  the 
prerogatives  of  Kings  and  a  liberal  interest  in  the  players'  art;  so  he 
took  away  from  noblemen  their  power  of  licensing  their  servants  as 
players,  reserving  all  such  power  for  himself  and  the  members  of  the 
Royal  Family.  In  choosing  his  own  royal  company  he  was  apparently 
tied  by  some  old  promise  made  to  Laurence  Fletcher,  chief  of  the 
English  comedians  who  used  to  come  to  Scotland,  for  whose  sake 
he  had  fought  the  ministers  of  Edinburgh,  coerced  the  burghers 
of  Aberdeen,  and  threatened  Elizabeth's  agent,  that  if  the  rumour 
was  true  that  Fletcher  had  been  hanged  in  England,  he,  the  King, 
would  hang  the  English  agent  in  Edinburgh4.  The  rujnour  was  not 
true.  This  promise  performed,  he  chose  the  Lord  Chamberlain's 
company  for  his  own,  partly  to  please  Southampton,  no  doubt,  who 
knew  them,  and  partly  to  please  himself.  For  were  they  not  the 
company  who  included  a  real  poet,  who  could  satisfy  all  the 

1  Nich.  Prog.  p.  300.          2  Harington's  Brief  Notes  and  Remembrances. 

8  Add.  MS.  12,506,  ff.  107,  121. 

4  See  my  Burbage,  and  Shakespeare's  Stage,  pp.  99  and  253. 


xvmj  THE  COMING  OF  THE  KING  273 

canons  of  his  poetic  criticism?  It  may  not  have  been  noted  that 
James  put  Shakespeare's  name  above  that  of  Burbage,  or  the  other 
members  of  the  company.  Was  he  not  a  protege  of  the  Earl  of 
Southampton?  So  there  was  here  something  of  the  nature  of  a 
compliment  to  the  patron  who,  on  the  i6th  of  May,  had  been 
restored  in  blood  and  in  title. 

On  the  i  yth  of  May  James  signed  the  Privy  Seal  for  the 
patent  of  "the  King's  Players"  (the  patent  itself  was  drawn  up 
on  the  i  gth).  Anyone  may  read  it  clearly,  in  the  revolving  frame 
in  the  Museum  of  the  Record  Office — "Pro  Laurentio  Fletcher, 
Willielmo  Shakespeare,  et  aliis,"  to  give  them  authority  to  play 
comedies  and  tragedies,  etc., 

as  well  for  our  Solace  and  Pleasure  as  publicly  to  their  best  commoditie, 

within  any  convenient  place  in  any  University,  Town,  or  Borough, 
commanding  all  officers  not  only  to  permit  them,  but  to  aid  and 
assist  them, 

also  what  further  favour  you  shall  shewe  to  these  our  servants  for  our  sake, 
we  shall  take  it  kindly  at  your  hands. 

As  his  Majesty's  Servants,  they  took  rank  with  the  Grooms  of  the 
Chamber  without  fee.  They  were  paid  when  they  performed  at 
Court,  or  elsewhere,  for  the  King.  The  Cecil  Papers  copy,  with  the 
Great  Seal,  dated  the  igth,  contains  the  names  Laurence  Fletcher, 
William  Shakespeare,  Richard  Burbage,  Augustine  Phillipps,  John 
Hemings,  Henry  Condell,  and  the  others;  and  Augustine  Phillipps 
had  the  last  vestige  of  the  discredit  he  had  suffered,  by  being  called 
in  question  over  the  Percy  performance,  washed  away.  The  other 
companies  were  licensed  by  the  Queen  and  Prince.  This  altered 
the  whole  status  of  "the  quality,"  made  playing  a  profession,  and 
gave  its  members  new  opportunities  of  development.  Unfortunately 
the  plague  somewhat  spoiled  the  prospects  of  their  first  year, 
though  they  probably  toured  through  the  country.  The  King  was 
in  Wilton  by  December.  John  Hemings,  one  of  his  Majesty's 
Players,  received  "a  warrant  on  the  3rd  December  1603,  for  the 
payment  of  the  expenses  of  himself  and  the  rest  of  his  company 
coming  from  Mortlake  and  presenting  one  play  before  the  King 
on  the  2nd  December  at  the  Court  at  Wilton  £30." l  So  we  know 

1  See  my  Burbage,  and  Shakespeare's  Stage,  pp.  99  and  253. 
s.  s.  18 


274     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

where  the  King,  the  Earl  of  Southampton,  and  his  poet  Shake- 
speare were  at  that  date.  The  King  allowed  them  the  payment 
of  three  plays  for  one,  reckoning  the  distance.  They  also  played 
at  Hampton  Court  after  their  return,  on  St  Stephen's  day  at  night, 
St  John's  day  at  night,  and  Innocents'  day,  probably  performing 
on  one  of  these  occasions  "The  fair  maid  of  Bristol,"  entered  at 
Stationers'  Hall  8th  February  1604-5. 

A  good  many  notices,  which  at  the  time  could  not  be  supposed 
likely  to  have  any  relation  to  Southampton,  might  have  been  inserted 
here;  but  I  must  content  myself  with  one — a  letter  from  Wildgoose 
and  Lennard,  reporting  that  Mr  Annesley,  of  Lee  in  Kent,  was 
unfit  to  manage  his  own  affairs,  and  begging  to  have  charge  of  him, 
on  1 8th  October,  I6O31.  Concerning  this,  his  daughter  wrote  to 
Cecil: 

I  most  humbly  thank  you  for  the  sundry  letters  that  it  hath  pleased  you 
to  direct  unto  gentlemen  of  worship  in  these  parts,  requesting  them  to  take 
into  their  custodies  the  person  and  estate  of  my  poor  aged  and  daily  dying 
father:  But  that  course  so  honorable  and  good  for  all  parties,  intended  by 
your  Lo.,  will  by  no  means  satisfy  Sr  John  Willgosse,  nor  any  course  else, 
unless  he  may  have  him  begged  for  a  Lunatic,  whose  many  years  service  to 
our  late  dread  Sovereign  Mistress  and  native  country  deserved  a  better 
agnomination,  than  at  his  last  gasp  to  be  recorded  and  registered  a  Lunatic, 
yet  find  no  means  to  avoid  so  great  an  infamy  and  endless  blemish  to  us  and 
our  posterity,  unless  it  shall  please  your  Lo.  of  your  honourable  disposition, 
if  he  must  needs  be  accompted  a  Lunatic,  to  bestow  him  upon  Sir  James 
Croft,  who  out  of  the  love  he  bare  unto  him  in  his  more  happier  days,  and 
for  the  good  he  wishetb.  unto  us  his  children,  is  contented  upon  entreaty  to 
undergo  the  burden  and  care  of  him  and  his  estate,  without  intendment  to 
make  any  one  penny  benefit  to  himself  by  any  goods  of  his,  or  ought  that 
may  descend  to  us  his  children,  as  also  to  prevent  any  record  of  Lunacy 
that  may  be  procured  hereafter.  Lewsham  23  October  1603. 

CORDELL  ANNESLEY  (of  Lee) 2. 

This  good  daughter,  who  thus  brought  her  father  to  rest  in  peace, 
after  the  Dowager  Countess  of  Southampton  passed  away,  married 
Sir  William  Harvey,  Southampton's  step-father. 

The  printers  were  busy  till  the  end  of  1603.  Funeral  elegies  on 
the  great  Eliza  were  poured  forth,  good  and  bad.  Adulatory  verses 
to  welcome  the  new  Sovereign  were  hastily  indited.  Some  tried  to 

1  Cecil  Papers,  ci.  163.  2  Ibid.  CLXXXVII.  119. 


xvra]  THE  COMING  OF  THE  KING  275 

combine  both  and  succeeded  in  neither.    Some  thought  more  of 

Southampton.  The  writer  of  "a  mournful  dittie  entituled  Elizabeth's 
Losse"  invited 

You  poets  all,  brave  Shakspere,  Jonson,  Greene, 
Bestowe  your  time  to  write  for  England's  Queene; 
Lament,  lament,  lament  you  English  Peeres, 
Lament  your  losse  possest  so  many  yeares, 
Return  your  songs  and  Sonnets  and  your  laies 
To  set  forth  Sweet  Elizabetha's  praise1. 

No,  Shakespeare  had  no  thought  of  pretending  to  lament  the  hard 
jailor  of  "The  Lord  of  his  Love."  In  dignified  silence  he  let  the 
new  King  come  as  he  had  let  the  old  Queen  go.  This  silence  was 
noted.  He  did  not  care.  Chettle,  in  his  England's  Mourning 
Garment^  entreats  him: 

Nor  doth  the  silver-tongued  Melicert 

Drop  from  his  honied  muse  one  sable  teare 
To  mourn  her  death  who  graced  his  desert, 
And  to  his  laies  opened  her  Royal  eare. 
Shepherd,  remember  our  Elizabeth 
And  sing  her  rape,  done  by  that  Tarquin,  Death ! 

Shakespeare  was  deaf  even  to  that  appeal.  If  he  wrote  anything 
in  connection  with  this  subject,  it  did  not  see  the  light  for  years. 
Many  think  that  the  loyth  Sonnet  was  his  welcome  to  South- 
ampton. I  have  had  my  doubts  of  it;  the  first  half  does  not  follow 
Shakespeare's  usual  methods  of  construction,  the  close  falls  beneath 
his  level.  Yet,  since  it  has  been  regarded  as  Shakespeare's  address 
to  Southampton,  it  ought  to  be  included  here. 

cvn. 

Not  mine  own  fears,  nor  the  prophetic  soul 
Of  the  wide  world,  dreaming  on  things  to  come, 
Can  yet  the  lease  of  my  true  love  control, 
Suppos'd  as  forfeit  to  a  confin'd  doom. 
The  mortal  moon  hath  her  eclipse  endur'd, 
And  the  sad  augurs  mock  their  own  presage; 
Incertainties  now  crown  themselves  assur'd, 
And  peace  proclaims  olives  of  endless  age. 
Now  with  the  drops  of  this  most  balmy  time 
My  love  looks  fresh,  and  Death  to  me  subscribes, 

1  Greene  was  dead,  but  the  rhyme  was  too  useful  to  lose. 

1 8— 2 


276     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

Since  spite  of  him  I'll  live  in  this  poor  rhyme, 
While  he  insults  o'er  dull  and  speechless  tribes : 
And  thou  in  this  shalt  find  thy  monument 
When  tyrants'  crests,  and  tombs  of  brass  are  spent. 

A  more  jubilant  note  was  struck  by  John  Davies — not  he  of 
the  Essex  trouble,  but  John  of  Hereford,  writing-master  and  poet. 
In  the  Preface  to  Microcosmus^  singing  the  praises  of  James,  the  first 
man  that  he  calls  on  to  join  him  is  Southampton. 

Then  let's  be  merry  in  our  God  and  King, 

That  made  us  merry  being  ill  bestadd: 
South-Hampton  up  the  cappe  to  Heaven  fling 
And  on  the  Violl  there  sweet  praises  sing 
For  he  is  come  that  grace  to  all  doth  bring. 
If  thou  did'st  fault,  (judge  Heav'n,  for  I  will  spare  thee 

Because  my  faults  are  more  than  can  be  cast) 
It  did  to  greater  glorie  but  prepare  thee, 

Sithe  greater  Vertue  now  thereby  thou  hast 

Before  our  troubles  we  seeme  goodnesse  past 
But  cold  Affliction's  water  cooles  the  heate 

Which  youth  and  greatness  oft  too  much  doth  waste. 
And  Queenes  are  coy  and  cannot  brooke  the  sweat 
That  such  heate  causeth,  for  it  seems  unsweete. 
But  yet  thy  woorth  doth  wrest  from  what  soere 

Thereto  opposed  by  unseene  violence, 
Acknowledgment  of  what  in  thee  is  deere 

That  is,  the  glory  of  much  excellence 

Fitt  for  the  use  of  high'st  preheminence. 
The  World  is  in  the  wane,  and  worthy  men 

Have  not  therein  in  each  place  residence : 
Such  as  are  worthy  should  be  cherisht  then 
And  being  overthrown,  rais'd  up  agen. 

He  also  wrote  a  Sonnet  "To  the  right  noble  and  intirely  beloved 
Earl  of  Southampton." 

Welcome  to  shore,  unhappie-Happie  Lord 

From  the  deep  seas  of  danger  and  distresse 
Where,  like  thou  wast  to  be  thrown  overboard 

In  every  storm  of  discontentednesse. 
O  living  death  to  die  when  others  please ! 

O  dying  life  to  live  how  others  will; 
Such  was  thy  case  (deere  Lord),  such  as  thine  ease, 

O  Hell  on  earth,  can  Hell  more  vex  the  Will  ? 


xvni]  THE  COMING  OF  THE  KING  277 

This  Hell  being  harrowed  by  his  substitute 

That  harrowed  Hell,  thou  art  brought  forth  from  thence 
Into  an  earthly  Heaven  absolute 
To  tast  his  sweetnesse,  see  his  excellence 

Thy  Liege  well  wotts  true  Love  that  soule  must  wound 
To  whom  Heaven's  grace  and  His  doth  so  abound. 

Davies  also  wrote  praises  of  Penelope,  Lady  Rich,  of  Lord 
Mount)  oy,  and  of  the  Earl  of  Pembroke, 

Pembroke,  to  Court,  to  which  thou  wast  made  strange. 

At  the  time  of  the  Essex  troubles  and  his  own  disgrace,  the  Earl 
of  Pembroke  had  written  about  "bringing  those  (men,  I  cannot  call 
them)  to  their  ruin  for  their  wicked  action."1 

Yet  it  was  his  family  poet  who  now  wrote  the  noblest  praise  of 
Southampton : 

To  Henry  Wriothesley,  Earle  of  Southampton. 
Nonfert  ullum  ictum  illcesa  fcelicitas 

He  who  hath  neuer  warr'd  with  miserye, 

Nor  euer  tugg'd  with  Fortune  &  distresse, 
Hath  had  n'occasion,  nor  no  field  to  trie 

The  strength  and  forces  of  his  worthinesse: 
Those  parts  of  iudgement  which  felicitie 
Keepes  as  conceal'd,  affliction  must  expresse; 
And  onely  men  shew  their  abilities, 
And  what  they  are,  in  their  extremities. 

The  world  had  neuer  taken  so  full  note 

Of  what  thou  art,  hadst  thou  not  beene  undone; 
And  onely  thy  affliction  hath  begot 

More  fame,  then  thy  best  fortunes  could  haue  done; 
For  euer,  by  aduersitie  are  wrought 
The  greatest  workes  of  admiration. 
And  all  the  faire  examples  of  renowne 
Out  of  distresse  and  miserie  are  growne.  9 

Mutius  the  fire,  the  tortures  Regulus, 

Did  make  the  miracles  of  faith  and  zeale, 
Exile  renown'd,  and  grac'd  Rutilius; 

Imprisonment  and  poyson  did  reueale 

1  Salisbury  Papers,  xi.  40.   Cecil  Papers,  LXXVI.  51. 


278  THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON  [CH.  xvm 

The  worth  of  Socrates;  Fabrttius' 

Pouertie  did  grace  that  Common-weale 

More  than  all  Syllaes  riches,  got  with  strife; 
And  Catoes  death  did  vie  with  Ccesars  life. 

Not  to  b'unhappy  is  unhappynesse; 

And  misery  not  t'haue  knowne  miserie : 
For  the  best  way  unto  discretion,  is 

The  way  that  leades  us  by  adversitie. 
And  men  are  better  shew'd  what  is  amisse, 
By  th'expert  finger  of  calamitie, 

Then  they  can  be  with  all  that  Fortune  brings; 
Who  neuer  shewes  them  the  true  face  of  things. 

How  could  we  know  that  thou  could'st  haue  indur'd 

With  a  reposed  cheere,  wrong  and  disgrace; 
And  with  a  heart  and  countenance  assur'd 

Have  lookt  sterne  death  and  horror  in  the  face  ? 
How  should  we  know  thy  soule  had  beene  secur'd 
In  honest  counsels  and  in  way  unbase ! 
Hadst  thou  not  stood  to  shew  us  what  thou  wert, 
By  thy  affliction,  that  discri'd  thy  heart. 

It  is  not  but  the  tempest  that  doth  show 

The  Sea-man's  cunning;  but  the  field  that  tries 
The  Captaines  courage :  and  we  come  to  know 
Best  what  men  are,  in  their  worst  ieoperdies : 
For  lo,  how  many  haue  we  scene  to  grow 
To  high  renown  from  lowest  miseries, 

Out  of  the  hands  of  death,  and  many  a  one 
T'have  been  undone,  had  they  not  beene  undone. 

He  that  indures  for  what  his  conscience  knowes 

Not  to  be  ill,  doth  from  a  patience  hie 
Looke  onely  on  the  cause  whereto  he  owes 

Those  sufferings,  not  on  his  miserie : 
The  more  h'endures,  the  more  his  glory  growes, 
Which  never  growes  from  imbecillitie: 

Onely  the  best  compos'd  and  worthiest  harts 
God  sets  to  act  the  hard'st  and  constant'st  parts. 

SAMUEL  DANIEL1. 

1  From  Certaine  Epistles,  1601-3. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

FESTIVITIES,  1604-5 

THE  King's  Own  Players  performed  at  Hampton  Court  on  New 
Year's  day  at  night,  but  we  do  not  know  the  name  of  the  play1. 

The  first  year  of  United  Britain  was  signalised  by  a  new  form 
of  Court  extravagance,  which  would  have  scandalised  Queen 
Elizabeth.  Costly  masques  were  produced,  in  which  the  characters, 
hitherto  reserved  for  men,  were  played  by  women  performers,  con- 
sisting of  the  noblest  ladies  (and  the  Queen,  of  all  ladies  in  the 
land,  acted  the  leading  character).  A  new  style  of  writing  was 
necessary  for  these,  with  a  new  style  of  dressing.  The  courtiers 
crowded  to  see — some  to  admire,  some  to  criticise.  Southampton 
certainly  saw  the  masques;  we  may  wonder  what  he  and  Shake- 
speare thought  of  them2. 

On  the  1 1  th  of  January  Southampton  had  his  summons  to 
Parliament  duly  forwarded;  on  the  I2th  there  was  a  conference 
regarding  toleration  in  religion. 

On  the  1 8th  of  January  the  King's  Players  had  a  warrant  for 
the  payment  of  ^53  for  their  performances;  and  what  was  doubtless 
more  welcome  to  them,  as  being  unexpected,  was  a  free  gift  from 
the  King,  on  the  8th  of  February,  of  j£303  to  help  towards  their 
maintenance  while  prohibited  from  playing  publicly  because  of  the 
plague. 

The  King  left  Hampton  Court  early  in  February  for  Whitehall, 
proceeding  thence  to  Royston  and  Newmarket.  His  players  seem 
to  have  played  at  Whitehall,  for  a  warrant  was  granted  on  the  28th 
of  February  for  the  plays  performed  before  his  Majesty,  the  one 
on  Candlemas  day  at  night,  the  other  on  Shrove  Sunday  at  night4. 
Southampton  duly  sat  in  the  Parliament  of  1604,  where  the  first 

1  Dec.  Ace.  Treas.  Ch.,  Audit  Off.  388,  41. 

2  Nich.  Prog.  p.  424. 
8  Audit  Off.,  388,  41. 

4  Dec.  Ace.  Treas.  Ch.,  Pipe  Off.  542 


28o     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

bills  passed  were  for  the  restitution  of  himself  in  blood,  as  well  as  of 
the  children  of  the  Earl  of  Essex1.  But  he  did  not  sit  through  the 
session.  The  Lord  Chamberlain  announced  to  the  House  of  Lords 
that  the  Earls  of  Southampton  and  Pembroke  were  to  be  excused, 
having  been  commanded  to  attend  the  King  to  Royston.  On  the 
1 2th  of  March  the  King,  Queen,  and  Prince  came  to  their  palace 
in  the  Tower,  prepared  to  complete  the  proper  ceremonies  of  a 
coronation  by  a  procession  through  the  city.  On  the  1 3th  of  March 
the  King  created  Lord  Henry  Howard  Earl  of  Northampton,  and 
Thomas  Sackville,  Lord  Buckhurst,  Earl  of  Dorset.  The  Earl  of 
Southampton  was  in  the  next  day's  procession,  and  his  mother  (not 
his  wife,  who  was  otherwise  engaged). 

Howes'  Chronicle  and  Nichols'  Progresses  give  accounts  of  the 
seven  triumphal  arches  on  the  route,  of  the  devices  and  masques 
prepared  by  Ben  Jonson,  Drayton,  Webster,  Dekker,  Daniel,  and 
others.  Gilbert  Dugdale's  descriptions  state  that 

King  James  gave  not  only  to  those  worthy  of  honour,  but  to  the  mean 
gave  grace,  as  taking  unto  him  the  Lord  Chamberlain's  servants,  now  the 
King's  Actors,  the  Queen  taking  to  her  the  Earl  of  Worcester's  servants 
that  are  now  her  Actors,  and  the  Prince  their  son  Henry  took  to  him  the 
Earl  of  Nottingham's  servants,  who  are  now  his  Actors,  so  that  of  Lord's 
servants  they  have  become  the  servants  of  the  King,  Queen  and  Prince.... 
The  prisoners  in  the  Tower,  Cobham,  Grey,  Raleigh,  were  removed  to 
other  prisons  for  the  time2. 

The  Players,  as  Royal  Servants,  were  in  the  Procession.  This 
has  been  disputed.  But  the  Lord  Chamberlain's  books3  are  clear 
about  it,  mentioning  the  quantity  allowed  for  the  cloth  of  their 
garments,  the  occasion  of  its  being  used,  and  the  names  of  the 
wearers.  In  great  dashing  writing,  heading  the  list  of  the  King's 
Players,  is  the  name  of  "William  Shakespeare,"  spelt  correctly. 

Foley  tells  us  that  on  the  24th  of  the  month  (probably  March) 
"there  was  a  solemn  tilting  before  Whitehall,  the  Earls  of  Cum- 
berland and  Southampton  with  the  greatest  commendation."4 

On  April  ist,  1604,  Southampton  wrote  to  Sir  Julius  Caesar, 
Master  of  Requests,  about  a  ship  left  at  Portsmouth  by  a  Frenchman, 
which  had  been  seized  by  his  Deputy.  His  action  had  now  been 

1  Lords  Journals,  n.  264-266.  *  Nichols'  Prog.  p.  413. 

3  Lord  Chamb.  Books,  n.  4  (5).  *  Foley's  Eng.  Jes.  i.  59. 


xix]  FESTIVITIES,   1604-5  281 

called  into  question.  "I  thought  that  when  I  was  made  Vice- 
Admirall  by  the  Admirall  he  had  given  me  somewhat.  I  now  find 
that  without  my  privity  such  courses  are  taken,  that  I  shall  hold 
a  thing  in  name  and  shew  only."  If  the  Frenchmen  who  now 
claim  it  shew  no  cause  for  their  claim,  he  desires  "my  Deputy 
should  suffer  neither  loss  nor  disgrace,  neither  any  dishonour."  He 
suggests  that  both  parties  should  be  heard  before  Caesar. 

On  the  loth  of  April  Southampton  recommended  a  soldier  to 
Sir  Julius  Caesar  who  had  been  wounded  and  maimed  in  service 
in  Elizabeth's  time,  and  required  that  the  help  should  be  continued. 
On  the  same  day  from  the  Court  he  writes  in  favour  of  a  poor 
man,  called  Evans.  He  also  asks  Sir  Julius  Caesar  to  help  Thomas 
Jones,  who  has  lost  money  in  a  case  with  Clement  Greene; 
Greene  had  three  small  ships  laden  with  commodities  for  the  Isle 
of  Wight,  but  the  Admiralty  attached  the  same 1. 

Thomas  Whitefield,  who  was  of  a  troublesome  and  contentious 
disposition,  had  commenced  a  suit  against  Henry  Needier  in  his 
Majesty's  Court  at  Whitehall.  Southampton  asks  Sir  Julius  Caesar 
to  attend  to  it,  on  May  I7th,  1604. 

A  year  after  Southampton's  liberation,  his  wife  brought  him  a 
second  daughter2.  Doubtless  there  was  some  disappointment  in 
this,  as  he  wished  this  time  for  a  son  and  heir.  But  the  child  was 
welcomed  with  honour.  The  Queen  stood  godmother  to  "Anne 
the  daughter  of  the  right  honourable  therll  of  Southampton  baptized 
in  April  1604  m  tne  Chapel,  in  the  second  yere  of  his  Majesties' 
Reign."3  A  bill  is  sent  in  for  "making  readie  the  Chappel  at 
Whitehall  for  her  Majesty  for  the  Christening  of  the  Earl  of 
Southampton's  Child." 

On  April  i8th  Southampton  and  the  Earl  of  Devonshire  were 
appointed  joint  Lieutenants  of  Hampshire4.  Southampton  was  then 
also  doing  good  service  as  Commissioner  for  the  Union5. 

On  the  ist  of  May  the  King  was  at  Highgate,  at  the  house 
of  Sir  William  Cornwallis,  where  Ben  Jonson's  masque,  which 
Gifford  calls  The  Penates,  was  performed  before  him. 

1  Add.  MS.  12,506,  ff.  139,  145.  i48.  199- 

2  Orig.  Cheque  Book,  Chap.  Roy.  p.  75. 

3  Dec.  Ace.  Treas.  Ch.,  Audit  Off.  388,  41. 

4  Patent  25  d,  also  Doyle's  Heraldry. 

5  Wilson's  History  of  England,  p.  29. 


282     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

On  the  8th  of  May,  1604,  ne  signed  a  warrant: 

James  R.  Wee  will  and  command  you  immediately  upon  the  sight  thereof, 
to  deliver,  or  cause  to  be  delivered  to  our  right  trustie  and  right  welbeloved 
cosins  Henry,  Earl  of  Southampton,  and  William,  Earl  of  Pembroke,  chosen 
and  elected  to  be  Knights  and  companions  of  our  Honorable  order  of  the 
Garter,  eyther  of  them  eighteen  yards  of  crimson  velvet  for  their  robes, 
kirtle,  hoode  and  Tippets  of  our  saide  Order,  and  twelve  yardes  of  white 
sarcenet  to  eyther  of  them  for  lyning  of , the  same  as  hath  been  accustomed. 
And  these  our  letters,  signed  with  our  own  hand  shalbe  your  sufficient 
warrant  and  discharge  in  this  behalfe.  Given  at  Westminster  eighth  day  of 
May  in  the  second  year  of  our  reigne  &c.  To  Sir  George  Howme  Master  of 
our  greate  wardrobe1. 

That  would  naturally  have  been  in  preparation  for  the  feast  of 
St  George  of  that  year. 

Southampton  was  mysteriously  and  suddenly  arrested  in  June, 
1604,  and  as  suddenly  released,  without  trial  or  explanation2. 
Rumour  was  rife.  The  Venetian  ambassador  notes  the  fact  with 
concern.  He  says  on  July  6th,  1604: 

On  Sunday  night  was  arrested  the  Earl  of  Southampton,  Baron  Danvers 
and  others,  who  were  confined  separately  and  examined,  but  all  set  at  liberty 
yesterday  morning.  I  have  not  heard  the  reason,  probably  the  malignity  of 
their  enemies,  of  whom  they  have  many3. 

He  writes  later: 

I  have  not  found  out  the  real  reason.  It  is  said  that  it  was  a  charge  of 
treason  against  Southampton  that  he  meant  to  kill  some  Scots  who  are  much 
about  the  King,  charged  by  unknown  enemies.  Southampton  went  to  the 
King  and  said  that  if  he  knew  the  name  of  his  enemy  he  would  challenge 
him,  but  it  passed  off  with  fair  words4. 

Malone  says  that  it  was  by  the  machinations  of  Cecil  (soon 
afterwards  made  Lord  Cranborne)  that  the  King  was  persuaded  to 
believe  that  too  great  an  intimacy  subsisted  between  Southampton 
and  his  Queen5.  It  is  true  they  might  have  been  thrown  a  good 
deal  together,  as  Southampton  had  literary  and  artistic  tastes,  as 
well  as  goodwill  to  help  her  about  her  masques.  Probably  Malone 
gathered  this  from  that  prejudiced  and  self-contradictory  book, 

1  Add.  MS.  5756,  f.  233.  2  Sir  Eg.  Brydges,  Peers,  p.  321. 

8   Venetian  Papers,  vol.  x.  no. -238-242. 
*  Birch's  James  I,  pp.  494-5. 
8  Shakespeare,  x.  69. 


xix]  FESTIVITIES,   1604-5  283 

Anthony  Weldon's  Court  and  Character  of  King  James1.  Having 
discussed  the  trial  and  condemnation  of  Cobham,  Grey,  and 
Raleigh,  Weldon  says: 

Now  doth  the  King  return  to  Windsor,  when  there  was  an  apparition  of 
Southampton  being  a  Favourite  to  his  majesty,  by  that  privacy  and  dear- 
nesse  presented  to  the  Court  view,  but  Salisbury,  liking  not  that  any  of 
Essex  his  faction  should  come  into  play,  made  that  apparition  appeare  as  it 
were  in  transitu,  and  so  vanished,  by  putting  some  jealousies  into  the  King's 
Head,  which  was  so  far  from  jealousie,  that  he  did  not  much  desire  to  be 
in  his  Queen's  companie,  yet  love  and  regality  must  admit  of  no  partner- 
ship. 

Southampton  was  present  at  the  prorogation  of  Parliament  on 
the  7th  of  July,  i6c>42. 

In  July  of  that  year  the  King  granted  Sir  Fulke  Greville  the 
ruined  castle  of  Warwick,  at  a  nominal  rent  of  ^5  a  year,  and  of 
the  mills  and  meadows  belonging  thereto  at  the  yearly  rent  of  ^2O3. 
He  rebuilt  and  improved  the  castle  at  enormous  cost  to  himself. 
The  tide  of  the  plague  had  rolled  away  from  London,  and  it  had 
now  become  the  healthiest  place  in  the  kingdom.  "Now  the  Queen 
has  come,  the  King  will  stay  at  Windsor."  "The  ordinances  of 
the  King's  Household"  were  drawn  up  I7th  July4. 

From  Sir  Robert  Carey's  Life5  we  learn  that  the  King  and 
Queen  went  back  to  Easton  Neston  to  meet  their  delicate  young 
son  Charles,  who  could  not  walk  at  four  years  of  age.  Those  who 
intended  to  beg  his  custody  feared  to  undertake  it;  Sir  Robert, 
however,  and  his  wife  risked  it,  after  which  the  child  improved 
every  day.  Sir  Robert  had  not  been  otherwise  rewarded  for  his 
wild  ride  to  the  north.  The  Councillors  whom  he  had  forestalled 
united  to  hinder  him;  but  in  securing  this  office  he  made  a  path 
for  his  future. 

On  July  25th  Southampton  had  grants  of  Basildon,  co.  Gloucester, 
Dunmow  in  Essex,  and  other  lands. 

The  King  being  peaceably  settled  in  his  new  kingdom,  ambassa- 
dors poured  in  to  congratulate  him.  There  were  some  peculiarly 
interesting  incidents  connected  with  the  Spanish  ambassador  sent 

1  Shakespeare,  x.  41.  2  Lords  Journal,  II.  266. 

3  D.S.S.P.  James,  vin.  July  4.    My  Shak.  Warwick.  Contemp.  p.  169. 

4  Harl.  MSS.  642,  f.  228.  6  Page  164. 


284     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

to  his  Court.  Many  years  since,  Halliwell-Phillipps  appealed  to 
Shakespeareans  to  tell  him  where  he  might  find  the  reference  to  the 
fact  that  Shakespeare's  Company  was  in  attendance  on  the  Spanish 
embassy.  About  twenty  years  ago,  in  doing  other  work,  I  found 
this  reference,  but  did  not  use  it  until  I  had  collected  further 
material  for  my  paper  on  "The  Shakespeares  of  the  Court"  in  the 
Athenteuml.  On  this  occasion  the  special  envoy  of  Philip  III  of 
Spain  was  the  Constable  of  Castille,  who  had  power  to  agree  to 
and  ratify  the  terms  of  peace  between  Spain  and  Great  Britain. 
Great  preparations  had  been  made  to  receive  him,  and  Somerset 
House,  the  second  palace  in  London,  was  prepared  for  his  recep- 
tion. All  expenses  were  to  be  defrayed  by  the  King,  hence  extra 
servants  (not  of  the  Constable's  train,nor  of  the  resident  ambassador's 
household)  were  provided  for  him.  And  among  these  other  servants 
were  the  King's  Players,  who  then  acted  as  Grooms  of  the  Chamber. 
We  know  this  from  the  account  of  their  payment,  among  the  other 
expenses  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber 2. 

To  Augustine  Phillipps  and  John  Hemyngs  for  th'  allowance  of  them- 
selves and  tenne  of  their  fellowes  his  Majesties  Groomes  of  the  Chamber 
and  Players,  for  waytinge  and  attending  on  his  Majesties  Service,  by  com- 
mandmente,  upon  the  Spanish  ambassador  at  Somerset  House  for  the  space 
of  1 8  dayes  viz.  from  the  gth  day  of  Auguste  1604  untill  the  2/th  day  of 
the  same  as  appeareth  by  a  bill  thereof  signed  by  the  Lord  Chamberlain 
xxi/z  xiir. 

Shakespeare  is  not  mentioned,  but  was  probably  included.  It  is  a 
quaint  idea  to  imagine  him  being  taught  Spanish  Court  Etiquette 
by  the  Majordomo  of  the  Ambassador,  but  as  for  any  romance 
about  Shakespeare  (or  his  fellows)  being  allowed  to  hear  (or  even  to 
see)  the  secret  commission  which  sat  at  Somerset  House,  we  must 
let  that  go.  The  picture  of  the  members  of  that  historic  meeting 
may  be  seen  in  the  National  Portrait  Gallery,  Robert  Cecil  and 
Lord  Mount] oy  among  them.  We  may  be  sure  that  Shakespeare 
was  one  of  the  many  who  wanted  no  peace  with  the  Spaniard. 
But  there  was  not  the  same  reserve  on  the  public  occasions  and  gala 
days  of  that  time;  so  that  the  King's  Players  probably  enjoyed  their 
little  job. 

1  1 2th  March,  1910,  and  my  Burbage  and  Shak.  Stage,  p.  101. 
*  Dec.  Ace.  Treas.  Ch.,  Audit  Off.  388,  41;  Pipe  Off.  543. 


xixj  FESTIVITIES,   1604-5  285 

Southampton  was  appointed  Councillor  to  the  Queen  on  the 
gth  of  August1,  and  Cecil  was  created  Viscount  Cranborne  on 
the  20th. 

The  Venetian  ambassador  wrote  that  the  King  came  to  London 
on  the  Qth  (English  Style)2.  The  Constable  came  next  day  to 
Court  attended  by  Lord  Southampton  and  Lord  Effingham,  the 
son  of  the  Lord  Admiral.  The  great  banquet  given  them  at 
Whitehall  on  that  occasion  is  noteworthy.  We  can  find  all  about 
it  in  the  Journal  of  the  Constable's  doings  (in  Spanish)  printed  at 
the  time,  now  in  the  British  Museum.  Also  parts  of  the  story  have 
been  garnered  by  Rye  in  his  England  as  seen  by  Foreigners. 

The  Earls  of  Pembroke  and  Southampton  officiated  as  gentlemen-ushers. 
...The  Constable  being  at  the  King's  side,  and  the  Conte  of  Villamediana 
on  the  Queen's.... The  principal  noblemen  of  the  Kingdom  were  likewise  at 
the  table,  in  particular,  The  Duke  of  Lennox,  Earl  of  Arundel,  Earl  of  Suffolk, 
Lord  Chamberlain,  Earl  of  Dorset,  Lord  Treasurer,  Earl  of  Nottingham, 
High  Admiral,  the  Earls  of  Devonshire,  Southampton  and  Pembroke,  and 
many  others.... There  was  plenty  of  instrumental  music,  and  the  Banquet 
was  sumptuous  and  profuse.... Dancing  began  in  the  Audience  Chamber. 
At  this  ball  there  were  more  than  fifty  Ladies  of  Honour.... Prince  Henry 
danced  a  Galliard....The  Earl  of  Southampton  then  led  out  the  Queen  and 
three  other  gentlemen  their  several  partners,  who  all  joined  in  dancing  a 
brando.  In  another  the  Queen  danced  with  the  Duke  of  Lennox.... The 
Prince  stood  up  to  dance  a  correnta  which  he  did  very  gracefully.... The 
Earl  of  Southampton  was  now  again  the  Queen's  partner  and  they  went 
through  the  Correnta  likewise.  Afterwards  there  was  bear-baiting. 

After  all  this  glory  and  lavish  extravagance  came 

The  Royal  Proclamation  upon  the  Peace  with  Spain  and  the  Archduke 
whereunto  the  people  made  no  manner  of  sign  of  joy  their  way  or  in  any 
way  soever.  I  have  heard  it  from  those  who  heard  it  at  Whitehall3. 

The  articles  of  the  Peace  between  England  and  Spain  are  given 
in  the  same  paper.  The  display  probably  led  the  Constable  to  advise 
liberal  rewards  to  Cecil,  who  had  made  things  move. 

A  list  of  the  fees  of  the  Queen's  officials  at  that  time  includes 
the  names  of  Southampton,  Lord  Cranborne,  Lord  Sidney,  Sir 
George  Carew,  Mr  Ralph  Ewens,  &c.4  Nichols  gives  the  list  in  his 

1  Doyle's  Off.  Baronage,  i.  373.   Nichols'  Prog.  p.  268.   D.S.S.P.  James, 
cvn.  3. 

2  Rye,  p.  123.  *  Add.  MS.  38,139,  ff.  71,  71  b.   Manwood's  Notes. 
*  Add.  MS.  38,139,  f.  186  b. 


286     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

Progresses  of  James  I.  Immediately  after  the  Spanish  Commissioners 
left,  the  Court  dispersed  for  the  King's  hunting  progress.  Fowler, 
on  Oct.  3rd,  wrote  from  Hampton  Court,  "The  Spanish  Ambassa- 
dor hath  been  here,  and  presented  gifts  to  Pembroke,  Southampton, 
and  others." 

The  Privy  Council's  Register  of  this  period  was  accidentally 
burnt,  but  part  of  a  copy  has  been  preserved.  Thence  we  find  that 
on  November  3Oth,  1 604  \  the  Council  wrote  a  letter  to  the  Lord 
President  and  Council  of  York,  to 

commit  one  Nalton,  a  minister,  to  prison,  for  speaking  of  lewd  words  against 
the  Earl  of  Southampton,  and  after  to  certifie  the  nature  of  the  wordes, 
that  such  order  may  be  taken  for  his  further  punishment  and  reparation  of 
his  Lordship's  order  as  shall  be  fit. 

Most  likely  Nalton  called  him  "Recusant."  Nothing  further 
seems  to  have  been  done  that  year.  On  January  28th,  1604-5 
Lord  Sheffield  wrote  to  Cranborne: 

After  the  writing  of  my  letter,  I  wrote  a  letter  to  the  Counsayle  at  York 
who  have  advertised  me  of  the  imprisonment  of  one  Nalton,  a  minister,  who 
was  committed  by  your  Lordship  for  speaking  unfitting  spitches  of  my  Lord 
of  Southampton....!  should  be  glad  to  know  what  course  is  to  be  pursued 
with  him,  because  the  man  exclaims  he  is  not  brought  to  triall. 

A  letter  of  Southampton's  to  Viscount  Cranborne  shews  that 
he  has  settled  at  Southampton  House  in  Holborn  by  November 
3rd,  1 604  2.  It  is  in  favour  of  Mr  John  Ferrour, 

who  had  been  dispatched  by  Mr  Hudson,  the  Kinges  then  agent  to  her 
Majesty  with  business  of  great  trust  and  important  (wherein  myself  was 
interested)  a  day  before  the  decease  of  the  late  Queene. 

He  had  received  no  reward,  though  the  King  had  commanded 
him  to  wait  on  him  for  a  place  in  ordinary.  Little  would  con- 
tent him. 

I  know  your  Lordship's  forwardnesse  out  of  your  own  good  inclination 
to  grace  the  well-deserver....This  courtesie  I  shall  acknowledge  as  done  to 
myself.... He  will  prove  a  grateful  and  honest  minded  man.  Your  Lordship's 

To  do  you  service, 

H.  SOUTHAMPTON. 

1  Add.  MS.  11,402.  z  Cecil  Papers,  cvn.  113  and  cxi.  23. 


xix]  FESTIVITIES,   1604-5  287 

In  another  undated  letter,  not  very  legible,  returning  some  letters 
sent  from  Lord  Cecil  to  him  to  look  over,  Southampton  says: 

I  will  be  with  you  in  the  morning,  to  follow  such  directions  as  you  shall 
give  me.  P.S.  I  am  very  sorry  for  the  mischaunce  happened  to  ye  King,  but  I 
hear  it  is  not  much,  and  therefore  I  hope  will  not  long  trouble  him l. 

[Endorsed  "  1604."] 

The  special  attendants  who  went  before  to  prepare  the  Royal 
apartments  sent  in  their  bill  to  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber  for 
preparing  "The  greate  Chamber  at  Whitehall  for  2  days  in 

November  1604,  for  the  King's  Majestic  to  see  the  plaies For 

making  ready  the  Banqueting  House  at  Whitehall  against  the 
plaie,  November  1604.... For  making  ready  the  Hall  for  Plays  at 
Christmas,  December  1604.  For  making  ready  the  great  Hall 
for  Sir  Philip  Herbert's  wedding  the  same  month  December 
1 604.  For  making  ready  the  Banqueting  House  at  Whitehall  for 
the  mask... preparing  the  Hall  for  Candlemas  and  Shrovetyde  to 
see  the  plaies  January  1604-5. "2 

We  know  from  the  same  declared  Accounts  that  the  King's 
company  of  players  had  performed  on  "All  Saints  Day  at  night, 
the  Sunday  at  night  following,  being  the  4th  November  1604, 
St  Stephen's  Day  at  night  and  Innocents'  Day  at  night."3  The 
payment  for  each  play  was  £10,  but  there  is  no  clue  to  the  titles 
of  the  plays.  Chamberlain  wrote  to  Winwood  on  December  1 8th : 

Sir  Philip  Herbert  and  Lady  Susan  Vere  are  to  be  married  on  St  John's 
Day  at  Whitehall.  Three  thousand  pounds  are  already  delivered  for  the 
expenses  of  the  great  Masque  to  be  performed  on  Twelfth  Night.  The 
Queen's  brother,  the  Duke  of  Holstein,  is  still  at  Court.  The  tragedy  of 
Gowry  has  been  twice  performed  by  the  King's  Players  to  crowded  audiences 
but  the  King  is  displeased  and  it  will  be  forbidden.  Princes  should  not  be 
set  on  the  Stage  during  their  lifetime*. 

The  marriage  between  Sir  Philip  Herbert  and  Lady  Susan  Vere 
provided  gossip  for  many  a  day. 

There  was  a  minor  masque,  the  name  of  which  has  not  come 
down  to  us,  performed  at  Whitehall  on  St  John's  Day  at  night 
for  Sir  Philip  Herbert,  acted  by  private  performers,  Lord  Pem- 
broke, Lord  Willoughby,  and  others. 

1  Cecil  Papers,  cix.  40.  2  Dec.  Ace.  Treas.  Ch.,  Audit  Off.  388,  42. 

»  Ibid.  *  Winwood,  Mem.  I.  41. 


288     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

"New  Year's  Day  passed  without  any  solemnity."1 
On  Twelfth  Day  Prince  Charles  was  created  Duke  of  York. 
There  was  a  great  display — the  Earl  of  Northampton  and  the  Earl 
of  Dorset  bore  the  robes  of  estate,  the  Earl  of  Southampton  carried 
the  coronet,  the  Earl  of  Cumberland  the  golden  rod,  the  Earl  of 
Worcester  the  cap  of  estate;  and  the  little  prince  himself,  unable 
to  walk,  was  carried  in  the  arms  of  the  Earl  of  Nottingham,  supported 
by  the  Earl  of  Dorset2.  In  the  evening  the  gorgeously  appointed 
Masque  of  Blackness  by  Ben  Jonson  was  performed  at  Whitehall. 
Carleton  wrote  very  disparagingly  of  the  Masque  itself  and  of  the 
dress  of  the  performers:  "Blackness  became  them  nothing  so  well 
as  their  own  red  and  white,  you  cannot  imagine  anything  more 
ugly  than  a  troupe  of  lean-cheeked  Moors."  One  courteous 
ambassador  kissed  a  black  hand,  and  curious  glances  were  cast  at 
him  to  see  if  he  had  carried  any  colour  away.  The  King's 
Players  performed  on  the  yth  and  8th  of  January. 

There  is  a  very  strange  literary  dispute  concerning  an  event  of 
this  year,  which  ought  not  perhaps  to  pass  quite  unnoticed — that  is, 
the  date  of  the  revival  of  Lovis  Labour's  Lost.  The  Queen's  brother 
was  visiting  her  then;  the  Earl  of  Southampton  and  Lord  Cran- 
borne,  her  Councillors,  wished  to  honour  her  and  her  guest  by 
a  feast,  and  at  the  feast  to  give  a  play.  Sir  Walter  Cope  was  trying 
to  help  and  must  be  allowed  to  tell  his  own  story,  as  he  told  it  to 
Lord  Cranborne 

From  your  library. 

Sir,  I  have  sent  and  bene  all  thys  morning  hunting  for  players,  juglers, 
and  such  kinds  of  creatures,  but  fynde  them  hard  to  fynde,  wherefore 
leaving  notes  for  them  to  seeke  me,  Burbage  ys  come,  and  says  there  is  no 
new  playe  that  the  Queene  has  not  scene,  but  they  have  revyved  an  olde  one 
cawled  "Love's  Labour  Lost,"  which  for  wytt  and  mirthe  he  says  will 
please  her  exceedinglye,  and  this  is  apoynted  to  be  played  tomorrow  night 
at  my  Lord  of  Southampton's,  unless  you  send  a  wrytt  to  remove  the 
Corpus  cum  causa  to  your  house  in  the  Strande.  Burbage  ys  my  messenger, 
ready  attending  your  pleassur3. 

This  is  undated;   but  a  date  may  be  found  for  it  in  this  way. 

1  Nichols'  Prog.  James  I,  p.  469. 

2  Ibid.  pp.  475,  479. 

3  Salisb.  Papers.    Hist.  MS.  Rep.  in.  App.  p.  148.    D.S.S.P.  James,  xn. 
15.  19- 


xix]  FESTIVITIES,   1604-5  289 

Apparently  Cranborne  did  not  appropriate  that  play,  but  found  some 
other  to  suit  his  occasion.  One  of  Carleton's  gossipy  letters,  dated 
January  I5th,  1604-5,  say8}  "Last  night's  revels  were  kept  at  my 
Lord  of  Cranborne's. .  .and  ye  like  two  nights  before  at  my  Lord 
of  Southampton's."  So  Cranborne's  feast  was  the  I4th,  South- 
ampton's the  1 2th,  and  Cope's  letter  the  nth.  When  was  Love's 
Labour's  Lost  "revived"?  There  are  three  slips  of  paper,  ostensibly 
lists  of  the  Plays  and  part  of  the  Revels  Books,  which  used  to 
be  called  "  Cunningham's  Forgeries,"  but  of  late  have  been  raised 
to  a  higher  level  by  some  expert  opinions.  I  regret  to  feel  obliged 
to  hold  to  the  opinion  expressed  by  previous  authors  on  the 
ground  of  handwriting,  doing  so,  however,  because  some  of  the 
entries  given  in  Cunningham's  papers  do  not  agree  with  known 
facts.  I  now  take  only  the  one  point  relevant  to  my  subject. 
Cunningham  says,  "By  his  Majesties  plaiers  Betwin  Newers  day 
and  Twelfe  Day  A  play  of  Loues  Labours  Lost."  Now,  such  a 
method  of  dating  is  unknown  to  royal  accounts  of  that  nature; 
there  is  no  record  in  the  Treasurer  of  the  Chamber's  Accounts x 
of  any  preparation  for  any  company  playing  just  then;  there  is 
no  payment  made  to  the  King's  company  for  a  play,  and  no  other 
company  dare  perform  that  play.  It  might  have  been  given  on 
either  the  yth  or  8th  of  January;  but  Twelfth  Day  is  on  the  6th. 
My  further  strictures  appeared  in  the  Athenaum,  signed  "Audi 
alteram  partem,"  in  191 12.  However,  we  may  visualise  the  fact  of 
Love's  Labour's  Lost  being  performed  in  Southampton  House, 
Holborn,  for  the  benefit  of  the  royal  Dane. 

Chamberlain  tells  Winwood  on  the  26th  of  January,  "  Eight  or 
ten  days  since  there  were  above  ^200  worth  of  Popish  books 
taken  about  Southampton  House,  and  burned  in  St  Paul's  Church- 
yard."3 It  is  not  quite  clear  whether  the  books  were  found  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  house,  whether  they  were  seized,  or  whether 
they  were  given  up.  Chamberlain  also  tells  his  friend  that  "Sir 
Edward  Stafford  died  suddenly  last  week,  leaving  the  first  fruits 
to  Sir  William  Harvey."4 

1  Dec.  Ace.  Treas.  Ch.,  Audit  Off.  388,  42,  also  my  Burbage,  and  Shake- 
speare's Stage,  p.  102. 

*  Athenesum,  3rd  June,  1911,  July  22nd  and  2gth,  and  October  7th,  1911, 
p.  421.  Times  Lit.  Supp.  Dec.  2nd,  1920,  p.  798  and  Feb.  24th,  1921,  p.  127. 

8  Winwood,  Mem.  i.  46.  *  Ibid.  49. 

s.s.  19 


290     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

On  the  Qth  of  February  William  Constable,  one  of  Essex's  party, 
wrote  to  Lord  Cranborne  begging  help 

to  support  the  remains  of  a  wretched  life  which  yesterday  three  years  ago 
was  forfeited. . .had  not  your  honour  above  my  merit  preserved  me.... Now 
my  life  and  sword  is  at  your  service.... It  pleased  my  Lord  of  Southampton 
at  Woodstock  to  witness  the  presentation  of  my  fidelity  to  your  Lordship 1. 

He  also  asks  "the  grant  of  a  small  thing,  the  importation  of  tobacco 
into  Ireland  though  the  country  is  poor."  In  the  same  month  a 
grant  was  made  to  Viscount  Cranborne  of  the  interests  and  terms 
of  William,  late  Lord  Cobham,  for  his  son  Sir  William  Cecil  and 
his  daughter,  heirs  to  his  wife,  Lord  Cobham's  eldest  daughter2. 
In  March  an  advice  was  sent  to  the  Lord  Treasurer  "to  grant 
out  of  the  estate  fallen  to  the  Crown  by  the  attainder  of  Lord 
Cobham,  all  that  was  settled  on  his  wife  the  Countess  of  Kildare 
and  his  house  in  Blackfriars  where  he  dwelt."3  (This  was  next 
door  to  the  theatre.) 

The  most  notable  event  of  the  month  is  given  in  Rowland 
Whyte's  letter  to  Shrewsbury: 

My  Lady  Southampton  was  brought  to  bed  of  a  young  Lord  upon  St 
David's  Day  in  the  morning,  a  saint  to  be  much  honoured  by  that  house  for 
so  great  a  blessing,  by  wearing  a  leek  for  ever  upon  that  day.  March  4th, 
1604-5  4. 

(Whyte  was  of  Welsh  descent,  his  real  name  being  Wynne.)  More 
about  that  event  may  be  noted.  Southampton  asked  the  King 
and  Cranborne  to  be  sponsors.  Cranborne,  writing  to  Sir  Thomas 
Lake  on  March  gth,  1 604-5,  from  Theobalds,  explains  that  he  is 
"hawking  with  the  Chamberlain  and  the  Earls  of  Cumberland, 
Southampton, and  Devonshire, but  to-morrow  all  go  back  to  school." 
Of  this  Sir  Thomas  Lake  wrote  to  Cranborne  on  the  i6th: 

This  morning  while  I  was  with  his  Majesty,  my  Lord  of  Southampton 
came  to  his  Highness  to  invite  him  to  the  christening  of  his  sonne,  where- 
uppon  his  Majestic  willed  me  to  adde  to  my  letter,  that  if  my  Lord  had 
matched  him  with  a  Christian,  he  could  have  believed  my  Lord  had  good 
meaning  in  it,  but  having  coupled  him  with  a  hound,  he  thinketh  my  Lord 
did  it  onely  to  flatter  him  because  he  knoweth  his  Majesty  loveth  hunting 
and  the  begle  as  well  as  any  of  the  company  at  least 5. 

1  Cecil  Papers,  civ.  II,  66.  *  Ibid.  8  Ibid. 

*  Lodge's  Illust.  in.  269.  6  Cecil  Papers,  xciv.  96. 


xix]  FESTIVITIES,   1604-5  291 

James  frequently  called  Cranborne  his  "little  Beagle,"  but  it  is 
probable  that  the  joke  was  not  so  pleasant  to  Cranborne's  ear  as  it 
was  to  Lake's.  The  royal  attendants  for  seeing  after  the  King's 
palaces  note  their  expenses  for  the  preparation: 

For  making  ready  the  Chapel  at  Greenwich  for  the  King's  Majesty 
against  christening  of  the  Earl  of  Southampton's  son. 

The  christening  is  entered  as  on  the  27th  of  March,  but  the 
Cheque  Book  of  the  Chapel  Royal1  and  the  Declared  Accounts  say 
the  26th2,  as  does  the  letter  of  Calvert  to  Winwood.  There  was 
also  a  gift  given 

To  the  nurse  and  midwife  at  the  christening  of  the  Erie  of  Southampton's 
child  being  a  sonne  to  whom  his  Majestic  was  godfather  in  person  himself 
in  his  Highnesse  Chappie  at  Greenwich  26th  March  1605. 

So  Lord  James  Wriothesley  had  a  royal  welcome. 

The  King's  own  turn  came  next.  The  Princess  Mary  was  born 
at  Greenwich  on  April  8th,  i6o53.  Two  new  Knights  of  the  Garter 
were  made — the  Duke  of  Holstein,  the  Queen's  brother,  and  Lord 
Henry  Howard,  Earl  of  Northampton.  Among  the  titles  showered 
by  the  King  on  his  nobles  at  the  Royal  Baptism  on  4th  May,  James 
created  Robert  Cecil  Earl  of  Salisbury,  Thomas,  his  elder  brother, 
Earl  of  Exeter,  Philip  Herbert  Earl  of  Montgomery,  Sir  Robert 
Sidney  Viscount  Lisle,  Sir  John  Stanhope  Baron  Stanhope  of 
Harington,  Sir  George  Carew  Baron  Carew  of  Clopton,  Sir  Thomas 
Arundel  (Southampton's  brother-in-law)  Lord  Arundelof  Wardour; 
Sir  Robert  Dormer  (a  cousin  of  Southampton)  Lord  Dormer  of  Wing. 

John  Ferrour,  the  unlucky  messenger  to  Scotland  on  the  last 
day  of  the  late  Queen,  wrote  to  thank  Salisbury  for  his  assurance  of 
favour  "through  his  most  honourable  good  Lord,  the  Earl  of 
Southampton" — (the  letter  is  undated,  but  endorsed  "1605"). 
This  emboldens  him  to  ask  the  reversion  of  the  lease  of  a  manor 
in  Norfolk  near  where  he  was  born4.  (He  was  afterwards  of  the 
Virginia  Company.) 

In  the  Easter  term  it  is  noted  that  the  Dowager  Countess  of 
Southampton  received  her  £600  promised  in  part  return  for  her 
paying  the  debts  of  Sir  Thomas  Heneage5. 

1  Original  f.  71.  *  Audit  Off.  388,  42. 

8  Nichols'  Prog.  pp.  505,  510.  *  Cecil  Papers,  ci.  23. 

6  Pell's  Roll  Issue,  Easter  1605,  mem.  10. 

19 — 2 


292     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

On  Monday,  June  3rd,  the  King,  with  many  noblemen,  South- 
ampton among  them,  went  to  see  the  lions  in  the  Tower,  and 
saw  a  novel  form  of  lion-baiting,  repulsive  to  modern  feeling  *. 

On  Saturday  next  to  the  morrow  of  Ascension  Day,  this  same 
term,  the  Earl  of  Southampton  was  summoned  before  the  Justices 
of  the  King's  Bench  by  Henry  Collier,  gent.,  servant  of  Sir  Edward 
Fenner,  Justice  of  the  King's  Bench,  on  a  plea  of  debt  for  £300 
which  he  had  borrowed  from  Collier  (on  the  2ist  of  March?)  in 
the  Parish  of  St  Mary  Arches  Ward  of  Cheap2.  Southampton 
had  promised  to  repay  this  when  asked  and  had  not  done  so,  to 
the  damage  of  Collier  of  £50.  John  Coppuldyke,  Southampton's 
attorney,  could  not  deny  this,  and  the  Court  determined  that  Collier 
should  recover  the  ^300  from  Southampton  and  i  os.  damages. 

Samuel  Daniel  this  year  published  Certain  small  poems^  lately 
printed  including  Philotas.  Now,  Philotas  suffered  for  a  treasonable 
conspiracy  against  Alexander  the  Great.  Daniel  was  summoned 
before  the  Council  to  explain  his  meaning,  in  its  apparent  connec- 
tion with  the  Earl  of  Essex  and  Mountjoy.  He  explained  by 
saying  that  Philotas  had  been  read  by  the  Master  of  the  Revels 
and  Mountjoy  before  Essex  was  in  any  trouble. 

Apparently  a  very  short  time  after  this,  Southampton  was  sent 
from  the  giddy  rounds  of  Court  life  to  his  duties  in  the  south. 
He  acknowledged  on  25th  June  having  received  a  letter  from 
Salisbury  "yesterday  being  Monday,"  shewing  that  he  knew  that 
one  Throgmorton  had  been  in  these  parts  to  levy  men  for  the 
Archduke's  service  and  had  raised  some  in  the  Isle  of  Wight  by 
the  sound  of  a  drum. 

I  sent  a  messenger  to  enquire  and  had  the  Mayor  of  Hampton  to  dine 
with  me.  Grimson  pretends  to  be  the  Lieutenant  for  Throgmorton,  and 
used  a  general  passport  for  him  and  his,  but  there  was  no  licence  to  recruit 
by  sound  of  drum.  I  have  not  been  there  myself  nor  spoken  with  the 
Bayley  of  Newport.  I  would  be  loth  to  warrant  all  circumstances  of  this 
case  to  be  trew,  for  I  build  not  my  fayth  upon  the  relation  of  others.  On 
Saturday,  God  willing,  I  mean  to  be  there  when  I  will  advertise  you  of  the 
truth,  and  have  given  orders  that  if  he  return,  he  will  be  stayed.  I  beseech 
your  Lordship  let  me,  as  soon  as  you  may,  receave  from  you  his  Majesties- 
will  how  I  shall  proceed  further  in  it  because  I  am  very  unwilling  to  rely 

1  Nichols'  Prog.  p.  515. 

*  Coram  Rege  Roll,  Easter  3,  James  I,  xxi. 


xix]  FESTIVITIES,  1604-5  293 

upon  my  own  discretion,  but  what  directions  you  shall  send  me  will,  as  nere 
as  I  can,  be  performed.  Thus  recommending  unto  your  Lordship  the  best 
love  and  service  I  can  yeald  to  any  (next  unto  my  Master  unto  whom  I  owe 
myself)  rest  your  Lordships  most  faithfull  frend  to  do  you  service. 

H.  SOUTHAMPTON  J. 
Tichfield,  25th  June  1605. 

The  answer  must  have  been  prompt,  or  the  letters  crossed,  for 
the  next  reply  runs : 

My  Lord,  I  am  bounde  unto  you  for  your  care  to  howld  me  in  a  right 
way,  which,  God  willing,  I  will  not  stray  from,  and  follow  the  course  your 
Lordship  hath  directed.  And  for  the  newes  you  wrote  me,  especially  that  of 
his  majesty's  health,  it  was  the  best  I  could  heare.  I  pray  God  ever  continue 
it,  and  make  him  as  happy  as  he  is  of  all  men  held  worthy.  The  day  after  I 
wrote  last  unto  your  Lordship  Grimson  returned  unto  the  Island2. 

Southampton  had  told  him  that  none  but  the  King  might  beat 
drums  or  display  colours.  Grimson  answered  that  Lord  Chenys  had 
done  it  unchallenged  a  month  before  in  Winchester.  Southampton 
blamed  the  authorities  and  added, 

He  is  a  known  recusant,  and  therefore,  as  I  take  it,  his  act  the  more 
skandalous.  It  was  done  3  weeks  before  my  coming  into  the  country,  and 
till  now  I  never  heard  of  it,  wherefore  I  hope  I  shall  escape  blame  though 
I  cannot  excuse  the  Deputy  Lieutenants  and  justices  who  were  then  in  the 
shire.... if  I  shall  heare  of  any  fleet  out  of  Spayne,  I  will  advertise  you.... 
Tichfield  2gth  June  1605. 

P.S.  I  pray  your  Lordship  doe  me  the  favour  to  commend  my  service  to 
my  Lord  Chamberlain  and  his  Lady,  unto  whom  I  would  have  written,  but 
that  presently  after  dinner  I  must  by  the  grace  of  God  pass  the  sea,  and  I 
have  many  businesses  to  despach  before  my  going. 

There  is  an  undated  letter  from  Southampton  to  Salisbury  about 
the  executors  of  Sir  Edward  Bell,  endorsed  i6o53,  and  a  letter 
from  the  Countess  herself  of  about  the  same  time. 

My  Lord, 

I  have  been  alredy  so  much  bound  unto  your  Lordship  as  it  makes 
me  presume  att  this  tyme  farther  upon  your  favor  in  a  business  now  brought 
unto  mee  which  is  this.  I  am  entreated  by  a  good  frend  of  mine  to  move 
you  for  the  wardship  of  the  sonne  of  one  Sir  Read  Stafford,  which,  if  your 
Lordship  have  not  already  disposed  of,  and  will  bee  pleased  to  bestow  upon 

1  Cecil  Papers,  cxc.  106.  2  Ibid.  cxi.  90-1. 

1  Ibid.  cxcn.  48. 


294     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

mee,  and  yet  receave  some  benifitt  thereby,  myself  thus  having  performed 
what  was  desired  of  mee  I  refer  it  unto  your  Lordship's  consideration  and 
with  my  best  wishes  rest  your  Lordship's  most  assured  to  command, 

E.  SOUTHAMPTON1. 

(It  may  be  noted  that  her  signature  has  now  become  angular 
and  like  her  husband's.) 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  Southampton's  first  sale  of  Romsey 
after  his  release  was  made  good  to  him.  The  King  gave  him  a 
regrant  in  fee  farm  of  the  manors  of  Romsey  in  Hampshire,  and 
of  Compton  Magna,  co.  Somerset.  Three  grants  were  again  made 
at  the  suit  of  the  Earl  of  Southampton2,  the  first,  of  the  manors  of 
Romsey  and  Compton  to  his  faithful  servants  or  helpers  Edward 
Gage  and  William  Chamberlain,  and  two  other  grants  of  his  own 
to  two  other  servants3. 

About  this  time  also  Southampton  was  worried  about  a  suspicious 
event4.  Two  men,  Bream  and  Captain  Dunscombe,  had  got  a  ship 
from  Plymouth  by  underhand  means,  and  tried  to  victual  it  secretly 
in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  it  was  supposed,  for  piratical  purposes.  He 
wrote  and  told  Julius  Caesar,  who  answered,  asking  for  details. 
Southampton  replied  on  the  27th  June,  saying  that  he  knew 
nothing  of  Bream  personally  but  "on  receipt  of  your  letter  I 
presently  sent  to  the  Isle  of  Wight  to  enquire  of  Bream  and 
Dunscombe."  He  explained  all  the  mysterious  arrangements  about 
the  ship,  "from  Tichfield  27th  June  1605."  He  writes  again  on 
the  2nd  July  from  Carisbrooke  Castle: 

Whether  Bream  have  committed  fresh  insolencies  as  you  speake  of  I 
know  not... we  have  taken  Captain  Bream,  and  Dunscombe  has  fled... by 
this  bearer  I  have  sent  Bream  up  to  you,  to  use  your  discretion  with  him. 

On  September  1 1  th,  1 605,  Southampton  wrote  to  Salisbury, 
giving  information  disclosed  by  Captain  Burley,  Yarmouth  Castle, 
Isle  of  Wight,  concerning  one  Booreman's  issuing  of  counterfeit 
French  crowns5. 

William  Camden,  who  had  always  a  good  word  to  say  for 
Southampton,  records  among  his  examples  of  anagrams  one  on 

Cecil  Papers,  cxcn.  49. 

D.S.S.P.  James,  ix.  docquet,  Oct.  28th,  1604. 

Ibid.  x.  docquet,  Dec.  iyth,  1604.    See  ante,  p.  270. 

Add.  MS.  12,506,  x.  ff.  in,  123. 

D.S.S.P.  James,  xv.  57. 


xixj  FESTIVITIES,   1604-5  295 

his  name,  "Henricus  Wriothesleius" — "Heroicus,  Laetus,  vi 
virens."  This  appears  in  Camden's  Remains  published  that  year, 
p.  156. 

It  is  rather  singular  that  in  an  undated  "List  of  recusants  whose 
fines  are  granted  to  Lady  Walsingham"  there  should  appear  the 
names  of  "Sir  Thomas  Monson,  the  Earl  of  Southampton,"  &c., 
1604-5  E?]1 

Southampton,  in  his  island,  found  himself  somewhat  like  Robin- 
son Crusoe;  he  was  monarch  of  all  he  surveyed,  but  he  suffered  from 
the  lack  of  fit  companions.    He  wrote  to  Salisbury  touchingly  in 
his  next  letter: 
My  Lord, 

Your  Lordship  knows  that  all  promises  between  frendes  are  to  bee 
kept,  which  lest  you  should  forget,  I  must  put  you  in  remembrance  of  a 
favour  you  promised  when  I  saw  you,  whereof  if  your  leasure  will  suffer  you 
I  shall  expect  the  performance,  which  was  to  see  this  Hand  sometime  this 
somer,  if  your  Lordship  be  still  of  that  mind  (as  I  hope  you  are  not  thus 
soone  changed)  I  beseech  you  lett  me  heare  of  it  3  or  4  dayes  before  you 
come,  not  to  make  provision  to  feast  you,  for  I  will  leave  that  to  those  who 
love  you  less,  and  endeavour  to  make  known  my  affection  to  you  in  some- 
what else  rather  than  in  meate  and  drinke,  but  only  that  I  may  meete  you 
at  Titchfield,  whither  I  would  entreat  your  Lordship  to  direct  your  course, 
from  whence  I  will  convoy  you  (God  willing)  safely  over  the  water  (there 
being  your  best  passage)  and  see  you  well  on  shore  againe  att  your  returne. 
This  is  all  I  have  to  treble  your  Lordship  with  att  this  time,  therefore  thus 
wishing  unto  you  as  much  increase  of  happinesse  as  yourself  can  desier  I 
rest  your  Lordship's  most  assuredly  to  do  you  service 

H.  SOUTHAMPTON  2. 
This  July  22nd  1605  Carisbrooke  Castle. 

There  is  no  record  whether  or  not  that  visit  was  paid 
Probably  it  was  not. 

But  Southampton  next  month  had  a  peep  into  Court  life.  For 
the  second  time  he  was  in  the  train  of  his  sovereign  visiting  Oxford. 
He  is  not  now  described  as  one  of  the  beautiful  youths  who  followed 
Elizabeth,  but  as  a  more  staid  and  responsible  man  in  place  of  trust. 
As  a  noble  incorporated  of  Oxford  in  1592,  he  sat  at  one  reception 
beside  the  Vice-Chancellor3.  When  the  University  rang  the  bell 
at  7  o'clock  next  morning  for  a  royal  sermon,  the  King  was  asleep, 

1  D.S.S.P.  James,  xi.  25.  z  Cecil  Papers,  cxcn. 

8  Nichols'  Prog.  I.  566. 


296     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

and  it  had  to  be  postponed.  About  9  o'clock  the  King  came  in 
great  state  to  the  church,  the  Earl  of  Southampton  bearing  the 
sword  of  state  before  him1.  During  the  three  crowded  days  of  the 
visit,  the  King  was  more  than  once  noted  as  being  asleep  at  the 
plays,  but  very  wide  awake  at  the  disputations,  in  which  he  took  a 
share  himself.  Samuel  Daniel's  English  pastoral  The  Queen's 
Arcadia,  played  at  Christ  Church,  made  amends  to  the  audience 
for  all  the  others  they  had  endured.  There  was,  however,  one  little 
interlude  which  should  be  noted. 

Dr  Matthew  Gwynne,  author  of  Vertumnus,  one  of  the  dull  plays, 
struck  a  varied  note  in  this.  As  the  King  came  by  the  gate  of 
St  John's  College,  he  was  surprised  by  a  little  dialogue  in  Latin, 
repeated  afterwards  in  English  for  the  benefit  of  the  Queen  and 
Prince  (and  others).  The  device  of  this  was  much  approved.  Three 
Sibyls  appear  as  saluting  Banquo,  who  was  to  be  "no  King,  but  to 
be  the  father  of  many  Kings." 

These  sibyls  now  in  the  name  of  England  and  Ireland  saluted  the  King  of 
Scotland  as  the  fulfilment  of  the  old  prophecy, 

joining  their  welcomes  to  Anne,  parent,  wife,  sister,  daughter,  of 
Kings,  and  to  the  Princes.  Though  the  name  of  Macbeth  is 
never  mentioned,  one  cannot  but  see  in  the  little  production  the 
germ  of  the  idea  of  one  part  of  that  great  play.  The  King  was 
pleased  with  the  allusion  to  his  ancestor  Banquo  (fabulous  as  he 
was),  and  someone  present  was  inspired  to  carry  the  idea  further. 
Was  it  Southampton  who  saw,  heard,  and  understood,  and  suggested 
it  to  his  protege  Shakespeare,  or  was  the  poet  himself  in  the  train 
of  the  King  there,  or  merely  as  a  traveller  passing  through  Oxford 
on  his  way  between  London  and  "home  for  the  holidays"?  We 
can,  however,  see  what  Matthew  Gwynne  suggested,  and  what 
Holinshed's  Chronicle  filled  up,  in  the  three  "weird  sisters"  and 
the  witches  of  Macbeth^  the  wonderful  play  which  Shakespeare 
wrote  as  self-elected  Laureate  to  the  King  who  honoured  him2. 
The  King  went  from  Oxford  to  Lord  Knolles'  at  Greys,  thence 
to  Bisham  Abbey,  and  back  to  Windsor.  Southampton  went  back 
to  his  island. 

1  Nichols'  Prog.  i.  548. 

*  See  C.  Stopes,  "The  Scottish  and  English  Macbeth,"  in  Shakespeare's 
Industry,  p.  78. 


xix]  FESTIVITIES,   1604-5  297 

There  are  descriptions  of  the  reception  by  Isaac  Wake  in  Latin 
and  Anthony  Nixon  in  English. 

The  following  letter  to  Salisbury  seems  to  be  of  the  same  year, 
though  that  is  not  entered : 

My  Lord, 

I  humbly  thank  you  for  your  letter,  which  I  wish  I  could  answer  with 
any  change  worth  your  reading;  but  the  barrenness  of  this  place  affords 
nothing  to  discourse  of  but  heate  in  summer,  and  storms  in  winter,  which 
is  now  with  us  begun.  My  Lord  of  Devon  was,  I  imagine,  with  you  before 
I  received  your  letter,  being  no  longer  able  to  stay  from  his  pleasures  att 
Wanstead  in  the  desolate  partes  of  the  New  Forest :  I  wish  myself  also  often 
att  the  court  to  enjoy  the  presence  of  your  Lordship  and  the  rest  of  my 
best  frendes,  though  otherwise  I  thanke  God  I  am  enough  pleased  with  the 
quiet  life  I  lead  heare,  yett  doe  I  intend  ere  longe  to  be  with  you,  and  in 
the  mean  and  ever  will  rest  as  I  ought  your  Lordship's  most  faithfully  to 
doe  you  service. 

H.  SOUTHAMPTON1. 

Carisbrooke  Castle  the  1 6  of  September. 

Southampton  soon  after  that  date  was  on  the  move.  He  made  a 
trifling  request  in  favour  of  a  person  of  the  same  name  as  some  of 
his  relatives  and  some  of  his  servants.  It  is  not  clear  whom  he  means. 

My  Lord 

I  am  entreated  by  a  good  friend  of  mine  to  move  your  Lordship  in 
the  behalf  of  one  Chamberlayne  concerning  a  matter  depending  in  the 
Star  Chamber  between  him  and  one  Green  and  to  be  heard  (as  I  take  it) 
this  next  term.  My  sute  is  no  more  but  for  that  which  I  assure  myselfe  you 
would  affoord  without  soliciting  which  is  your  lawful  favour  in  that  cause 
of  Chamberlayne  whose  cawse  as  I  am  informed  is  just,  and  being  so,  I 
make  no  doute  but  my  request  shall  be  graunted,  if  otherwyse  I  leave  it. 
Thus  recommending  unto  your  Lordship  my  best  wishes  I  rest  your  Lord- 
ship's most  assuredly  to  doe  you  service. 

H.  SOUTHAMPTON  2. 

Tichfield  3th  of  October. 

One  more  letter  of  this  period  has  been  preserved: 

My  Lord 

There  is  one  Captain  Gifford,  who  is  a  servant  and  hath  been  employed 
by  the  Duke  of  Florence  and  who,  as  I  am  enformed,  hath  beene  in  England 
by  proclamation  declared  a  pirate.  Now  my  Lord  there  is  of  late  come  into 
Portsmouth  a  ship  laden  with  goodes  belonging  to  this  man.  I  beseech  your 

1  Cecil  Papers,  cxn.  66.  *  Ibid.  cxn.  106. 


298   THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON    [CH.  xix 

Lordship  therefore  doe  mee  the  favour  to  lett  mee  know  whether  he  hath 
his  pardon  or  not,  or  if  you  think  fitt  it  should  be  winked  att,  for  otherwise 
the  ordinary  course  as  in  such  cases  is  to  bee  taken,  and  a  seasure  to  be  made 
of  the  goodes.  I  hope  your  Lordship  will  pardon  my  troubling  you  att  this 
present.  By  the  grace  of  God  I  intend  the  next  weeke  to  see  you  att  London 
and  ever  rest  your  Lordship's  most  assuredly  to  doe  you  service, 

H.  SOUTHAMPTON1. 

Tichfield  ?3rd  October  1605. 

He  was  preparing,  as  many  others  were,  to  go  to  London  for 
the  Parliament  summoned  for  February  yth,  1604-5,  prorogued  till 
3rd  October,  and  again  till  the  5th  of  November.  Philip  Henslowe 
and  Edward  Allen,  Masters  of  the  Game  at  Paris  Garden,  were 
empowered  to  take  up  mastiff  dogs  to  send  from  the  King  to  the 
Emperor2.  The  Lord  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  was  sworn  one  of 
the  Privy  Council;  and  the  Lord  Mayor  was  told  to  forbid  plays 
and  keep  all  infected  persons  in  their  houses. 

The  Earl  of  Southampton  gave  £100  to  the  Bodleian  Library 
in  1605.  Probably  the  gift  was  partly  in  remembrance  of  his 
friend  the  Earl  of  Essex,  who  appreciated  Sir  Thomas  Bodley  so 
much3. 

1  Cecil  Papers,  cxn.  130. 

2  MS.  copy  Regis.  Privy  Council,  Add.  MS.  11,402. 

8  Annals  of  the  Bodleian  Library,  ed.  W.  D.  Murray,  1890,  p.  422. 


CHAPTER  XX 

THE  FIFTH  OF  NOVEMBER 

THE  story  of  the  Gunpowder  Plot  has  been  remembered  more 
effectually  than  most  events  in  history,  through  its  commemoration 
giving  schoolboys  an  opportunity  for  unlimited  squibs,  crackers, 
marches  with  straw-stuffed  old  clothes,  blazes,  and  bonfires.  It 
would  be  impossible  to  reckon  how  many  times  Guy  Fawkes  has 
been  burnt  in  effigy.  Many  rhymes  have  been  written  about  him; 
perhaps  the  most  popular  has  been : 

The  Fifth  of  November  shall  ne'er  be  forgot 
As  long  as  a  soldier  wears  a  red  coat. 

Through  repetition  this  has  become  a  prophecy,  and  by  waiting 
long  enough  for  it  the  prophecy  has  become  fulfilled.  The  soldier 
no  longer  wears  a  red  coat,  and  the  explosion  which  did  not  take 
place  on  the  5th  of  November,  1605,  has  dropped  out  of  memory, 
through  the  real  pictures  of  terrific  explosions  which  have  since 
taken  place.  It  is  only  when  great  events  are  lacking  that  might- 
have-beens  are  so  faithfully  commemorated.  Still,  at  the  time  it 
was  a  warning  signal  of  an  explosive  state  of  mind  among  certain 
people,  and  necessitated  the  use  of  serious  statecraft.  The  King 
patted  himself  on  the  head  for  having  himself  discovered  the 
meaning  of  the  veiled  message  sent  to  Lord  Monteagle1.  Most 
of  the  Members  of  Parliament,  Peers  and  Commons  alike,  felt 
some  grateful  recognition  to  him  for  having  preserved  them,  with 
himself,  from  the  designed  desolating  horrors. 

In  a  letter  written  by  Salisbury  on  the  Qth,  describing  the  course 
of  events,  he  himself  claims  to  have  discovered,  from  Monteagle's 
letter,  the  intention  of  the  use  of  powder;  but  having  given  the 
secret  letter  into  the  King's  hand  without  comment,  the  royal  critic 
came  to  the  same  conclusion. 

Southampton  must  have  shivered  even  at  the  imagination  of  the 

1  Nichols'  Prog.  i.  577,  586. 


300     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

terrors  he  had  escaped.  To  him  no  friendly  warning  had  been 
sent,  though  some  of  his  personal  friends — some  of  his  relatives 
even — had  been  involved  in  the  conspiracy,  at  least  according  to 
popular  report. 

Guy  Fawkes,  who  bore  the  assumed  name  of  Johnson,  was  taken 
in  the  act.  For  him  there  was  no  hope.  Some  of  the  others  fled 
to  Warwickshire,  partly  because  many  of  them  lived  there,  partly 
because  it  was  a  part  of  the  plot  to  secure  the  Princess  Elizabeth 
and  make  her  Queen1.  Some  of  them  made  a  brave  fight,  but  were 
overpowered  by  numbers.  Fire  in  one  case  cut  off  retreat,  some 
were  slain.  Priests  were  captured  everywhere,  of  whom  the  chief 
was  Father  Garnett.  "Viscount  Montague  has  been  committed 

to  Sir  Thomas  Bennethore  Alderman  of  London Tyrwhitt,  who 

married  my  Lady  Bridget  Manners,  and  Sir  Edward  Digby  have 
gone  to  the  rebels."2 

The  scared  Parliament  met  on  the  gth  of  November,  but  it 
was  chiefly  to  thank  God  for  His  wonderful  preservation  and  to 
prorogue  itself  until  the  2ist,  so  as  to  give  time  for  examinations, 
as  the  conspirators  were  to  be  tried  in  Parliament. 

Little  more  was  thought  of  until  the  end  of  the  year  1605. 
Some  of  the  conspirators  fled  from  Warwickshire  to  Worcestershire. 
"Tyrwhitt  has  come  to  London ...  Montague,  Mordant  and 
Tresham  were  sent  to  the  Tower  on  the  I5th."3 

Cobham's,  Grey's,  and  Raleigh's  plots  faded  into  insignificance 
before  the  magnitude  of  this;  yet  it  could  do  their  case  no  good 
that  a  definite  recusant  confederation  should  plan  such  a  subversion 
of  King  and  Government. 

Perhaps  it  was  because  people  required  an  unusual  stimulant  to 
think  of  other  things  that  so  many  plays  were  performed  that 
winter4.  On  I5th  December  the  Lord  Mayor  and  the  justices  of 
Middlesex  were  instructed  to  permit  the  King's,  the  Queen's,  and 
the  Prince's  Players  to  play  and  recite  their  interludes  at  their 
accustomed  places,  that  they  might  be  prepared  to  be  fit  for  royal 
service.  Beside  the  performances  of  the  other  companies,  John 
Hemings  had  a  warrant  for  his  own  company  for  the  payment  of 


1  D.S.S.P.  James,  xvi.  6,  7,  17,  19,  22.        z  Ibid.  xvi.  83;  xvn.  2,  62. 
*  Ibid.  xvi.  44.  4  Add.  MS.  11,402. 


xx]  THE  FIFTH  OF  NOVEMBER  301 

£100  for  10  plays  during  last  Christmas  and  since.   This  warrant 
was  given  on  March  24th,  1605-6,  i.e.  James'  Accession  Day1. 

Southampton's  poet  had  already  begun  to  devise  his  play  of 
Macbeth.  From  the  examination  of  Garnett  the  Jesuit,  the  great 
"  Equi vocator,"  he  had  introduced  one  of  its  few  topical  allusions. 

Faith,  here's  an  Equivocator  that  could  swear  in  both  the  scales  against 
either  scale;  who  committed  treason  enough  for  God's  sake  yet  could  not 
equivocate  to  heaven;  O  come  in,  Equivocator2. 

Viscount  Mpntague  had  dined  with  his  aunt,  Lady  South- 
ampton, a  fortnight  before  the  discovery,  but  no  suggestion  had 
been  given  of  danger  then. 

Perhaps,  as  they  have  not  been  printed,  some  allusion  may  be 
made  to  the  doings  of  the  Privy  Council3.  On  I5th  November: 

A  letter  to  Sir  William  Waad  Lieutenant  of  the  Tower,  to  receive  the 
Lord  Viscount  Montague  without  suffering  any  to  have  accesse  unto  him 
there. 

On  1 6th  November: 

Letters  to  the  Aldermen  to  receive  into  their  houses  wives  and  kinswomen 
of  the  Traitors  who  it  was  not  thought  fit  to  commit  to  prison.  Dorothy 
Grant,  wife  of  John  Grant  was  to  be  sent  to  Sir  Henry  Roe,  Elizabeth  Cole 
wife  of  William  Cole,  Mary  Morgan  wife  of  Henry  Morgan,  Martha  Percy 
wife  of  Thomas  Percy,  Dorothy  Wright  wife  of  John  Wright  and  Margaret 
wife  of  Christopher  Wright,  Mistress  Rookwood  wife  of  Ambrose  Rookwood 
to  be  placed  in  various  safe  houses. 

It  is  noted  that 

Robert  Chamberlain  in  Aldermanburie  was  not  John  Chamberlain's 
brother.... Mistress  Key  and  Mistress  Vaux  were  discharged  upon  Mr 
Lewis  Pickering's  bond. 

On  iyth  November: 

A  letter  to  the  High  Sheriff  of  Stafford  to  take  up  the  bodies  of  Percy, 
Catesby,  the  two  Wrights  and  other  traitors  that  have  been  slain  and  buried, 
and  send  their  heads  to  London. 

On  28th  November  48  prisoners  were  sent  up  from  Worcester 

1  Dec.  Ace.  Treas.  Ch.,  Audit  Off.  388,  43. 

*  Macbeth,  n.  3.  3  Add.  MS.  11,402. 


302     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

and  Warwick.   On  2yth  December  the  Lord  Treasurer  was  in- 
structed that 

Maintenance  was  to  be  allowed  to  the  prisoners  apprehended  and  for 
their  wives  children  and  families,  that  his  Majesty's  Clemency  may  appeare 
even  towards  those  that  to  him  intended  such  barbarous  and  savage  crueltie. 

On  28th  January  the  Lieutenant  is  told  to  try  by  way  of  persua- 
sion with  Digby,  Winter,  and  others  that  are  to  suffer,  to  make 
choice  of  some  of  the  clergy  for  their  spiritual  comfort.  The  chief 
executions  were  on  the  3Oth  and  3ist  of  January. 

Lord  Montague1  had  a  peculiar  risk  in  the  open  and  determined 
recusancy  of  his  grandmother,  Magdalene,  Viscountess  dowager  of 
Montague,  who  lived  in  the  family  mansion  at  St  Mary  Overies, 
and  gave  every  facility  to  the  coming  and  going  of  priests.  That  she 
knew  of  the  scheme  may  be  inferred,  as  she  warned  her  grandson. 

On  August  1 6th,  1606,  the  Lord  Treasurer  had  a  warrant  to 
keep  Lord  Viscount  Montague  prisoner  in  his  house  " without 
suffering  any  accesse  of  Papists,  etc." 

On  September  1 3th,  1 606,  the  Lord  Treasurer  is  instructed  to 
send  Viscount  Montague  to  his  house  at  Cowdray,  there  "to  be 
restrayned  without  accesse  of  any  unto  him  but  his  own  servants, 
and  to  go  no  further  than  his  Park." 

It  was  the  28th  of  June,  1608,  before  the  Council  decreed  that 
Viscount  Montague  may  come  as  often  as  he  likes  from  Cowdray 
to  London,  and  remain  as  long  as  he  pleases,  but  when  he  leaves 
he  must  go  straight  to  Cowdray. 

Among  the  New  Year's  gifts,  Southampton  is  mentioned 
as  receiving  a  cup  of  gilt  plate,  weighing  thirty-two  ounces, 
in  which  were  20  pounds  in  gold.  The  King's  Grooms  of  the 
Chamber  were  paid  "for  making  ready  several  rooms  in  and 
about  Westminster  Hall  for  the  King  and  Queen  against  the 
arraignment  of  Sir  Everard  Digby  and  others  in  January."2 

To  Bartholomew  Hales,  Esq.  upon  the  Council's  Warrant  dated  at  the 
Court  of  Whitehall  I5th  November  1605  for  the  paynes  and  expenses  he 

1  The  Parish  Books  have  an  entry  in  1593,  that  a  new  door  should  be 
opened  in  the  Church  wall  opening  into  my  Lord  Montague's  house,  in 
place  of  the  old  door,  stopped  up.  In  1597,  the  Register  states  that  Mr 
Gray,  a  priest  from  old  Lady  Montague's  house,  was  buried  here. 

8  Dec.  Ace.  Treas.  Ch.,  Aud.  Off.  388,  43. 


xx]  THE  FIFTH  OF  NOVEMBER  303 

hath  been  at  in  bringing  upp  thither  from  the  town  of  Warwick  certen 
gentlewomen  and  others,  that  are  wives,  sisters,  and  others  of  allyance  unto 
some  of  those  of  the  late  traiterous  conspirators,  in  which  service  he  hired 
a  waggon  for  the  conveying  of  them  to  London  and  for  dyett  and  other 
necessaries  by  the  way,  the  some  of  £26. 

To  Adam  King  messenger  by  a  warrant  dated  I9th  November  1605,  for 
the  apprehension  of  sondrie  prisoners  and  bringing  them  up,  and  again  for 
the  carrying  of  letters  to  the  High  Sheriff  of  Worcester  i6th  Novr. 

Many  men  are  entered  as  carrying  letters  about  the  conspiracy; 
William  Bradley  is  allowed  payment  for  taking  Stephen  Littleton 
and  Robert  Winter  from  Worcester;  and  the  expenses  of  many 
other  prisoners  are  noted.  Dudley  Carleton  himself  was  supposed 
to  be  involved  in  the  treason,  but  was  able  to  clear  himself. 

With  these  doleful  surroundings  wedding  festivities  seemed  out 
of  harmony x;  yet  on  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  nights  after  Christmas 
were  performed  Hymenaei^  to  celebrate  the  marriage  of  the  Earl  of 
Essex  to  Frances  Howard,  the  second  daughter  of  the  Earl  of 
Suffolk.  The  masque  performed  on  Sunday  was  written  by  Ben 
Jonson  and  designed  by  Inigo  Jones.  The  Barriers  took  place  on 
Monday,  Twelfth  Day.  Nichols  gives  the  words  of  the  masque, 
and  a  description  of  the  performances. 

On  Saturday,  22nd  March,  an  extraordinary  rumour  arose  early 
in  the  morning  that  the  King  had  been  slain  at  Woking  and  all 
his  nobles  in  defending  him2.  The  authorities  were  in  alarm,  the 
gates  of  the  city  were  locked,  all  precautions  were  taken.  The 
Tower  was  put  in  defence,  and  people  went  about  in  tears,  while 
swift  messengers  were  sent  to  enquire.  They  had  no  long  journey; 
for  they  met  the  King  peaceably  returning  to  London,  nothing 
having  happened  even  to  suggest  the  report.  The  King  was  wel- 
comed with  fervent  joy  by  all  classes  of  people,  and  it  comforted 
him  not  a  little. 

The  event  was  considered  important  enough  for  James  himself 
to  issue  a  Proclamation  that  he  was  safe  and  well,  which  might  be 
dispersed  all  over  the  country.  Ben  Jonson  wrote  a  stanza  on  the 
event. 

A  few  letters  concern  the  Earl  of  Southampton  more  or  less,  and 
may  be  included  here. 

1  Nichols'  Prog.  n.  3.  *  Ibid.  39. 


304     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

Sir  Maurice  Berkeley  to  the  Council  (defending  himself  against 
the  charge  of  intending  to  practise  in  favour  of  Catholics) : 

I  do  confess  that  the  Countess  of  Southampton  told  me  that  there  was. 
a  very  severe  and  terrible  bill  coming  from  the  higher  house  against  Catholic 
recusants,  but  that  I  promised  her  to  speak  against  it,  when  it  came  amongst 
us,  or  not  to  speak  for  it,  that  I  utterly  deny. ..whereas  I  am  accused  that  I 
wished  the  Papists  would  rise,  if  it  be  affirmed  by  two  witnesses  it  is  of  no 
purpose  for  me  to  deny  it... if  I  had  used  any  words  tending  to  that  effect  in 
the  presence  of  two,  the  lady  of  Southampton  being  one  of  them,  and  the 
other  one  that  I  cannot  yet  call  to  mind,  it  might  rather  be  interpreted 
apparent  folly  than  secret  malice... it  might  have  proceeded  from  some 
humour  to  make  her  discover  in  what  perplexity  she  was,  being  a  Catholic, 
or  to  make  her  discover  as  much  as  she  knew  of  the  humour  of  the  Catholic 
party... it  might  be  interpreted  anything  rather  than  any  practice  intended 
for  that  faction,  etc.1 

The  letter  is  undated,  but  is  endorsed  "1606." 

Southampton  sent  a  letter  by  Mr  Hawkesworth  to  Sir  Charles 
Cornwallis  in  April,  1606: 

Sir, 

Having  soe  fitte  an  opportunity  as  the  return  of  this  gentleman  to 
you,  I  could  not  let  him  passe  without  yielding  thanks  for  the  many  kind 
remembrances  I  have  received  from  you,  having  reason  to  esteem  them  at 
a  high  rate  because  it  is  more  than  I  can  any  way  challenge  as  due.  All  that 
I  can  therefore  say  at  this  time  is  that  I  acknowledge  myself  in  your  debte, 
the  which  if  it  shall  hereafter  lye  in  my  power  to  satisfie  by  any  affecte  of 
friendshippe  either  to  you  or  yours,  I  will  by  God's  grace  as  honestly  per- 
forme  it  as  any  with  whome  you  have  longer  contracted  Amity.  Thus  com- 
mending unto  you  my  best  wishes  I  rest  your  very  assured  friend 

HENRY  SOUTHAMPTON  2. 

To  Sir  Charles  Cornwallis  his  Majesties  Ambassador  in  Spain. 

The  Countess  of  Leicester  wrote  to  the  Earl  of  Salisbury, 

"On  behalf  of  my  niece  and  nephew  Digby,  who  can  find  no  possibility  of 
justice,  considering  the  greatness  of  his  adversary,  who  sits  as  judge  in  his 
own  cause,"  unless  Salisbury  and  the  rest  admit  him  "one  of  the  council 
there."  He  is  honest  and  sufficient  to  do  his  Majesty  service.  "If  my 
daughter  of  Devonshire  do  not  her  best  endeavours  herein,  she  is  much  to 
blame,  being  tied  thereto  by  promise  and  desert."3 

[Undated.    Endorsed  "  1606."] 

1  Cecil  Papers,  cxvm.  in.  2  Harl.  MSS.  1875,  404  6. 

3  Cecil  Papers,  cxix.  26. 


xx]  THE  FIFTH  OF-NOVEMBER  305 

Sir  Allan  Percy,  writing  to  Carleton  from  Essex  House  on 
April  ist,  1606,  notes  the  illness  of  the  Lord  Chancellor  and  of 
the  Earl  of  Devonshire1;  also  that  there  had  been  "a  great  quarrel 
between  three  gentlemen  on  occasion  of  drinking  the  Earl  of 
Southampton's  health."  What  the  real  meaning  of  this  was,  I 
cannot  discover. 

Penelope,  Countess  of  Devonshire,  writing  to  the  Earl  of  Salis- 
bury, 

is  glad  to  hear  of  his  safe  recovery  from  sickness.  Assures  him  of  her 
affection.  When  she  was  at  Drayton  with  her  mother,  the  "young  hunter" 
came  very  well  pleased,  till  Salisbury's  servant  came  to  guide  Ld  Cranborne 
to  Lady  Derby.  The  fear  of  parting  3  days  made  them  melancholy;  so  they 
concluded  to  go  together.  She  fears  nothing  but  their  riding  so  desperately; 
but  Ld  C.  is  a  perfect  horseman.  Her  mother  will  grow  young  with  their 
company. 

Wansted  this  Monday2. 

[Endorsed  "  1606."] 

Another  event  of  that  spring  which  deeply  affected  Southampton 
was  the  death  on  the  3rd  of  April,  1606,  of  Sir  Charles  Blount, 
Lord  Mountjoy  and  Earl  of  Devonshire,  his  friend  for  years.  His 
romantic  and  tragic  career  is  known  to  all  students  of  the  period. 
Born  in  1563,  blessed  with  health,  strength,  good  looks,  and  good 
wit,  he  had  an  early  fight  with  Fate.  His  father's  search  after 
the  "philosopher's  stone"  and  his  brother's  pursuit  of  pleasure  had 
beggared  the  family.  He  vowed  to  restore  its  good  name,  to  rebuild 
the  old  house.  He  began  well;  as  courtier,  soldier,  Member  of 
Parliament,  and  scholar,  he  seemed  able  to  rival  even  Essex  in  the 
Queen's  favour.  He  had  the  audacity  to  challenge  his  rival,  and, 
better  still,  by  skill  and  good  fortune  to  defeat  him.  They  were, 
however,  too  like  each  other  in  generosity  to  remain  enemies — 
indeed,  they  became  warm  friends.  Essex's  elder  sister  Penelope 
became  the  one  passion  of  Mountjoy's  life. 

Rarely  has  a  woman  had  more  poetry  poured  forth  in  her  praise. 
In  her  youth  she  was  beloved  by  Sir  Philip  Sidney,  who  wrote  for 
her  his  Amoretti\  Spenser  mourned  with  her  and  for  her  when 
Sidney  died.  It  is  evident  that  her  father  had  intended  her  to  marry 
Sidney,  but  his  death  in  Dublin  changed  many  things.  The 

1  D.S.S.P.  James,  xx.  4.  2  Cecil  Papers,  cxcm.  15. 

S.Sj  20 


306     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

arrangements  had  not  gone  so  far  as  a  formal  betrothal,  as  that 
would  have  prevented  the  sorrows  of  her  future  life.  She  was 
forcibly  married,  protesting  all  the  while,  to  a  man  she  detested. 
But  she  was  a  Ward  of  State.  It  is  difficult  to  understand  how  it 
could  have  been  done,  but  Burleigh,  her  step-father  Leicester,  and 
the  Queen  herself  cannot  be  held  free  from  blame.  Possibly  his 
father,  Sir  Henry  Sidney,  could  not  make  such  a  good  money 
offer  to  her  guardians  as  Lord  Rich  could.  Sir  Philip  sought  to 
console  himself  with  literature  and  the  company  of  his  sister 
Mary,  Countess  of  Pembroke;  tried  to  slip  away  with  Sir  Fulke 
Greville  to  the  colony  of  Virginia,  but  was  brought  back  from 
Plymouth  by  the  Queen's  orders;  was,  however,  allowed  to  go  to 
the  Netherlands,  where  he  died  of  the  results  of  a  badly  treated 
wound.  He  had  married  Frances,  the  daughter  of  Sir  Francis 
Walsingham,  who  afterwards  became  Countess  of  Essex.  Spenser, 
Daniel,  Davies,  and  other  poets  poured  forth  eulogies  of  Sir 
Philip  Sidney,  and  associated  her  with  his  memory.  The  unhappy 
Penelope  in  her  brother's  house  met  the  consoler,  who  afterwards 
became  her  adorer,  Sir  Charles  Blount.  Afterwards  ensued  the 
most  extraordinary  romance  of  real  life.  Her  husband  would  not 
divorce  her,  Lord  Mount] oy  would  not  give  her  up.  She  never  lost 
her  place  in  society,  until,  in  the  reign  of  James,  Lord  Rich  did 
divorce  her,  and  Mount] oy,  then  Earl  of  Devonshire,  married  her. 
A  howl  of  denunciation  went  up  at  the  act  from  Church  and 
Court.  The  pair  might  have  lived  it  down,  but  the  Earl  took  a 
severe  cold  and  died  of  it  at  the  Savoy  on  3rd  April,  I6061. 
People  said  he  died  of  a  broken  heart,  but  that  was  a  fiction. 
Doubtless  his  heart  was  sore,  for  his  marriage  could  not  legitimise 
his  children. 

Then  it  fell  to  Southampton  not  only  to  mourn  for  the  departed, 
but  to  help  the  survivors. 

Dudley  Carleton,  writing  to  John  Chamberlain  on  May  2nd, 
says: 

My  Lord  of  Devonshire's  funerals  will  be  performed  on  Wednesday  next, 
in  which  my  Lord  of  Southampton  is  chief  mourner,  my  Lords  of  Suffolk 
and  Norfolk  assistants  and  3  other  earls.... It  is  determined  not  to  have  my 
Ladie  Rich's  armes  empaled  with  his.  His  Arms  shall  be  set  up  single  without 

1  D.S.S.P.  James,  xx.  4,  36. 


xxj  THE  FIFTH  OF  NOVEMBER  307 

his  wife's,  i.e.  though  Ladie  Rich  had  been  divorced,  they  are  tied  in  the 
conclusion  not  to  marry  any  other  x. 

On  Sunday,  June  22nd,  Sophia,  the  youngest  daughter  of  James 
and  Anne,  was  born  at  Greenwich,  and  she  died  the  next  day. 
The  Queen  was  still  keeping  her  chamber  when  her  brother, 
Christian  IV  of  Denmark,  after  many  postponements  arrived  at 
Gravesend  on  the  1 6th  of  July,  1 606.  He  naturally  went  first  to 
see  his  sister  in  her  chamber,  but  afterwards  the  two  Kings  toured 
together  about  the  country  in  a  royal  way. 

The  Register  of  the  Privy  Council,  on  the  iyth  July,  makes  a 
minute  of  the  Lords  and  Ladies  summoned  to  do  honour  to  the 
King  of  Denmark.  Among  these  were  the  Countess  Dowager  of 
Pembroke  and  the  Countess  Dowager  of  Southampton.  Then 
follows  a  long  list  of  noblemen  and  their  wives,  among  whom  were 
"the  Earl  of  Southampton  and  his  Lady."2 

1  D.S.S.P.  James,  xxi.  4. 

a  A  minute  of  letters  written  to  Lords  and  Ladies  to  come  and  honour  the 
King  of  Denmark  &c. 

tyth  July  1606. 
Countess  of  Oxford 

of  Cumberland  Dowager 

of  Pembroke  Dowager 

of  Southampton  Dowager 
Lady  Chandos  dowager  of  the  late  Lord  Giles 
Lord  Marquis  of  Winchester  and  his  Lady 
Earl  of  Hertford  and  his  Lady 
Earl  of  Southampton  and  his  Lady 
Earl  of  Sussex  and  his  Lady 
Lord  Denny 

Earl  of  Rutland  and  his  Lady 
Earl  of  Pembroke  and  his  Lady 
Earl  of  Bedford  and  his  Lady 
Lord  Willoughby  d'Eresby  and  his  Lady 
Lord  Mounteagle  and  his  Lady 
Lord  Howard  of  Emngham  and  his  Lady 
Lord  North  and  his  Lady 
Lord  Chandos  and  his  Lady 
Lord  Hunsdon  and  his  Lady 
Lord  Norris 

Lord  Russell  and  his  Lady 
Lord  Danvers 
Earl  of  Lincolne 
Lord  Spencer 

Lord  Cavendish  and  his  Lady 
Earl  of  Cumberland  and  his  Lady 
Add.  MS.  11,402. 


308     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

The  Earl  of  Bedford  and  other  noblemen  were  called  to 
prepare  themselves  for  a  tilting  before  the  Danish  King;  Salisbury 
received  both  the  Kings  in  his  house  of  Theobalds,  and,  after  a 
great  deal  of  feasting,  hunting,  and  sightseeing,  King  Christian 
regretfully  left  his  hospitable  brother-in-law  on  I4th  August, 
1606. 

Among  the  general  free  gifts  of  that  year,  there  were  three  worth 
noting: 

To  Magnus  Guildenstern,  attending  on  the  King  of  Denmark,  one  chain 
of  gold;  To  Dr  Bull  [the  famous  musician]  one  chain  of  gold;  given  by  the 
Queen's  Highness  to  Mr  Florio,  at  his  grandchild's  christening,  one  cup  and 
cover. 

Shortly  after  the  King  of  Denmark's  departure,  the  King  set  out 
on  his  southern  progress1.  He  visited  the  Bishop  of  Winchester  at 
Farnham,  and  reached  Beaulieu,  the  Earl  of  Southampton's  place 
on  the  skirts  of  the  New  Forest,  on  the  3Oth  of  August.  The  King 
was  very  much  delighted,  both  with  the  place  and  the  manner  of 
his  reception. 

Sir  Thomas  Lake  wrote  to  Salisbury  the  next  day: 

...This  day  his  Majesty  dined  with  the  Earl  of  Southampton  and  received 
much  entertainment. .  .  . 

Beaulieu  1st  September  1606. 

It  is  probable  that  it  was  on  this  occasion  that  the  following 
anecdote  was  related  to  the  King  by  the  Earl,  who  had  learnt  his 
master's  taste  for  Natural  History: 

In  his  hawking  brook  at  Shellingford  2  he  sawe  divers  fowls  upon  the  river, 
and  a  little  waye  up  the  stream  a  Foxe  very  busie  by  the  banckside.  He 
delayed  his  sport  to  see  what  that  creature  would  doe.  The  Foxe  stepps  by, 
and  sheeres  up,  sometimes  a  scare  brake,  sometimes  a  green  meede,  puts 
them  in  the  water,  and  so  lets  them  drive  down  upon  the  Fowle.  After  he 
had  well  emboldened  them  by  this  stratagem,  he  putts  many  in  together 
and  himself  after  them,  with  one  in  his  mouth,  and  under  this  covert, 
gaining  upon  the  thickest  part  of  the  fowle,  suddenly  darts  from  his  ambush, 
and  catches  one.-  This  did  the  Earl  report  as  an  eye-witnesse.  Authority 
Sir  W.  Springe3. 

1  Nichols'  Prog.  n.  95. 

2  Query,  Little  Shelf ord,  Cambridgeshire? 
8  L'Estrange's  Anecdotes,  no.  48,  204. 


xx]  THE  FIFTH  OF  NOVEMBER  309 

Another  of  L'Estrange's  anecdotes  is  amusing : 

Charles  Chester,  a  Court  Fool  in  Elizabeth's  time,  used  always  to  be 
girding  at  Sir  Walter  Rawley  and  Lord  Knolles.  Rawley  once  waxed  his 
mouth  his  upper  and  nether  beard  together,  and  once  built  him  up  in  a 
corner,  with  a  mason  or  two,  up  to  the  chin,  and  left  him  there  all  night l. 

Some  personal  letters,  not  clearly  dated,  should  come  in  here,  of 
which  those  concerning  Southampton's  anxiety  for  his  sweet  wine 
privilege  should  stand  first 

My  Lord, 

I  understand  that  of  late  there  have  been  divers  marchands  before 
your  Lo  and  the  rest  of  the  Los,  unto  whom  you  made  knowen  that  it  was 
his  Maties  purpose  for  the  speedier  payment  of  his  dettes  to  rayse  new 
imposicions  of  all  kinds  of  comodities  that  have  not  alredy  their  costomes 
lately  raysed,  which  newes  makes  me  feare  the  burthen  will  fall  as  well 
uppon  mee  as  upon  the  marchantes,  for  if  there  shall  bee  a  new  imposicion 
raysed  uppon  the  sweet  wines  (whereof  I  am  farmer)  I  have  great  reason  to 
feare  that  it  will  impayre  that  kind  of  trade,  and  so  consequently  much 
preiudice  mee.  My  Lo,  I  have  no  other  to  seeke  help  of  for  aught  concerns 
mee,  but  yourself,  and  therefore  you  must  pardon  mee  if  I  bee  more  troble- 
some  unto  you  then  I  should  and  I  humbly  beseech  your  Lo,  before  this  bee 
engrossed  bee  pleased  to  remember  (as  I  protest  it  is  trew)  that  the  best 
meanes  I  have  to  subsist  is  by  this  farme,  which  if  it  should  be  overthrowen 
I  should  bee  enforced  to  lyve  in  a  very  mean  fashon.  I  am  nothing  doubtful 
of  your  Lo:  favor  and  therefore  I  will  use  no  more  wordes,  assuringe  myself 
in  this  that  concernes  in  a  manner  the  best  part  of  my  estate,  you  will  bee 
pleased  to  have  some  care  of  mee :  only  I  thoughte  fitt  to  putt  your  Lo.  in 
minde  of  it,  least  by  the  mayny  more  important  affayres  that  depend  uppon 
your  care,  this  small  one  mought  bee  forgott,  and  thus  wishing  a  long  con- 
tinewance  of  your  honour  &  happy  fortune  I  rest 

Your  Lordships  most  assuredly  to  doe  you  service 

H.  SOUTHAMPTON2. 

The  1 5th  of  June. 

If  there  must  neades  bee  an  imposicion  layd  uppon  sweet  wines,  I  beseech 
your  Lo.  lett  the  lyke  bee  imposed  proportionably  uppon  French  wines,  for 
otherwise  if  the  price  of  them  bee  so  farr  under  Spanish  as  there  then  will 
bee,  all  the  meaner  sort  in  probability  will  geve  over  the  buyinge  them,  & 
serve  themselves  only  with  French.  Your  Lo.  must  geve  me  leave  to  putt 
you  by  this  in  minde  of  the  course  you  resolved  of  for  Sanddam  Castle  of 
which  I  yet  heare  nothing. 

1  No.  100. 

1  Cecil  Papers,  cxxv.  169. 


310     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 
The  Earl  of  Southampton  to  the  Earl  of  Salisbury: 

My  Lo:  I  have  understoode  by  this  bearer  her  Heynes  how  carefull  your 
Lo.  is  of  mee,  that  I  should  receave  no  prejudice  by  the  late  imposition 
layed  upon  sweet  wines,  wherof  I  am  farmer,  as  herin  I  find  my  self  nothinge 
deceaved,  for  though  uppon  the  first  hearinge  of  a  proposition  lately  made 
unto  the  Marchantes,  concerninge  the  raysinge  of  costomes,  by  your  Lo. 
and  the  rest  of  the  Lo:  I  apprehended  what  would  lykewise  fall  uppon  mee, 
and  theruppon  was  bould  to  write  unto  your  Lo.  Yett  was  it  rather  (as  my 
letter  will  testify  when  it  shall  be  delivered)  to  putt  you  in  remembrance  of 
mee,  then  that  I  any  whitt  douted  your  favor  towardes  mee,  w°h  I  am  so 
well  assured  of  that  I  can  geeve  place  to  no  suspicion  of  the  contrary,  and 
am  also  perswaded  that  your  Lo.  is  so  well  satisfied  of  my  affection  and 
fayth  unto  you,  that  it  weare  frivolus  to  fill  paper  w01  y>  aldinge  numbers 
of  thankes,  seeinge  if  I  should  send  you  a  whole  volume  of  acknowledge- 
mentes  and  protestations,  I  can  express  no  more  then  in  few  wordes  to  say 
I  am  and  ever  will  bee  to  you  as  I  have  professed  wch  by  gods  grace  I  will 
alwayes  faythfully  performe.  This  bearer  did  also  make  mee  understand  the 
course  your  Lo.  intended  to  howld  to  save  mee  from  loss,  unto  the  w011  I 
willingely  submit  my  self,  only  one  feare  I  have  w011  to  your  Lo.  I  dare  lay 
open,  vf^  is  that  there  beeing  now  but  few  yeares  to  come  in  my  lease, 
when  I  shall  bee  driven  every  yeare  (if  my  former  profitt  bee  empayred)  to 
crave  large  deductions,  wherby  the  commodity  of  both  what  I  have  or  shall 
receave  will  bee  apparant,  it  will  perhappes  rise  to  a  larger  proportion  then 
the  Kinge  will  bee  content  I  shall  howld,  and  so  overthrow  my  hope  of 
renewinge  my  lease,  w**  then  once  expired  I  shall  become  bankrowte, 
wherfore  I  humbly  beseech  your  Lo.  if  you  thinke  it  fitt  lett  me  now  by  your 
meanes  renew  my  lease,  and  augment  the  number  of  my  yeares  for  the  w0*1 
in  my  opinion  I  can  never  have  so  fayre  an  opportunity,  for  first  I  have  no 
condition  in  the  lease  I  have  alredy  wherby  I  can  clayme  any  such  satis- 
faction as  your  Lo.  propoundes,  and  to  have  a  covenant  wherby  I  may 
demaund  it  doth  of  necessity  imply  the  new  drawinge  of  my  lease  wth  such 
a  condition  inserted,  then  I  have  at  this  time  just  reason  to  expect  the  more 
favor  in  regard  I  have  alredy  a  covenant  in  my  lease  wherby  the  Kinge  doth 
tie  himself  not  to  rayse  any  new  imposition  uppon  these  wines,  and  if  any 
bee  raysed  I  am  by  vertew  of  that  covenant  to  have  the  profitt  of  it,  and  yet 
notwthstandinge  willingly  submitt  my  self  unto  his  pleasure,  and  doe  not 
mentione  this  wth  any  purpose  to  contest,  but  only  name  it  as  a  motive  to 
procure  mee  the  greater  favor  in  the  renewinge  my  time,  w^  the  longer  it 
bee  the  more  shall  your  Lo.  make  mee  and  mine  bound  unto  you.  I  have 
only  one  thinge  more  to  move  unto  your  Lo.  and  then  for  this  time  I  will 
treble  you  no  farther,  w**  is  that  if  his  Ma11  purpose  to  lett  this  new  imposi- 
tion uppon  sweet  wines,  that  I  may  farme  it,  otherwise  if  it  bee  not  intended 
to  bee  lett,  that  my  officer  may  collect  it  for  the  Kinge,  puttinge  in  sufficient 


xx]  THE  FIFTH  OF  NOVEMBER  311 

security  to  bee  accountable  for  what  hee  shall  receave  to  the  uttermost. 
There  beseeching  &c. 

The  17  of  June1. 

[Endorsed  "  1606."] 

The  Earl  of  Southampton  to  the  Earl  of  Salisbury: 

In  this  time  of  my  absence  (though  it  be  not  likely  to  be  long),  this  bearer 
has  desired  me  to  recommend  him  to  your  favour.  His  business  your  L.  is 
already  acquainted  with  and  if  you  please  when  you  have  an  idle  time  to 
make  him  attend  upon  you,  &  help  him  in  this  necessity  of  his  with  some 
good  direction  how  to  carry  himself  to  win  the  favour  of  his  Majesty  & 
appease  my  Lo.  of  Worcester,  I  doubt  not  but  you  shall  find  him  ready  to 
follow  it.  i o  July2. 

[Endorsed  "  1606."    Holograph.] 

The  Earl  of  Southampton  to  the  Earl  of  Salisbury: 

My  Lo:  this  gentleman  Sr  James  Fitz-Pierce  hath  been  of  late  very 
earnest  wth  mee  to  make  him  knowen  unto  your  Lo:  the  wch  findinge  no 
oportunity  to  performe  by  reason  of  this  busy  time,  I  am  enforced  to 
satisfy  him  wth  my  letter  and  all  that  I  have  to  say  is  no  more  but  that  I 
knew  him  in  Ireland  well  esteemed  both  by  my  Lo.  of  Essex  and  by  my  Lo. 
of  Devon.,  by  the  later  of  w°h  (as  I  take  it)  for  his  good  desertes  hee  was 
made  knight :  I  am  acquainted  w**1  no  sute  hee  hath  ether  to  your  Lo.  or  the 
state  &  therfore  having  done  what  hee  desired  I  rest,  &c. 

The  12  of  August3. 

[Endorsed  "  1606."] 

Again,  on  the  25th  of  August,  Southampton  was  pleading  with 
Cecil  for  a  friend  whose  suit  in  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster  had  been 
unduly  delayed: 

If  I  did  think  it  any  way  contrary  to  the  common  course  of  Justice,  I 
would  not  move  it,  yet  referring  .your  Lordship  to  your  better  Judgment 
&c.4 

The  Earl  of  Southampton  to  the  Earl  of  Salisbury: 

My  Lo:  I  had  much  rather  doe  your  Lo:  service  then  bee  so  often  troble- 
some  unto  you  as  I  am,  yett  must  I  now  of  necessity  renew  an  owld  sute  in 
the  behalf  of  my  poore  aunt  Katherin  Cornwallis,  who  by  your  Lo.  favour 
hath  hetherto  lived  free  from  troble  for  her  recusancy,  but  is  now  by  malice 
lykely  to  bee  indited  if  your  Lo.  interpose  not  some  mean  to  healp  her. 
My  Lo.  I  can  say  no  more  for  her  then  I  have  alredy  done,  shee  is  an  owld 

1  Cecil  Papers,  cxcv.  18.  z  Ibid.  cxcu.  104. 

3  Ibid.  cxcu.  120.  4  Ibid.  cxcu. 


312     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

woman,  that  liveth  wthout  skandall,  I  am  in  expectation  of  some  good 
from  her,  &  I  assure  my  self  shee  will  take  no  thinge  so  kindly  of  mee  as 
to  preserve  her  from  this  danger :  if  therefore  your  Lo.  hould  it  fitt  and  will 
healpe  her,  it  will  bee  to  mee  (I  thinke)  a  very  good  turn.  Thus  wishinge  &c. 
28  Septr.1 
[Endorsed  "1606."] 

Southampton  wrote  to  Salisbury  at  the  end  of  the  year: 

My  Lord,  if  this  poore  corner  of  the  world  did  afford  any  things  worth 
the  writing  I  should  ere  this  have  often  trobled  your  Lordship  with  my 
letters,  but  since  the  receyte  of  your  last  (for  the  which  I  humbly  thank 
you)  I  have  been  as  diligent  to  enquire  as  I  could,  and  can  heare  of  no 
shipp  in  these  quarters  that  came  newly  out  of  Spayne,  though  before  that 
time  we  heard  almost  every  day  somewhat  or  other. 

Now  my  Lord,  I  must  move  you  in  a  business  which  much  concerns  me 
to  have  care  of,  wherein  also  yourself  is  as  far  interested  as  I  am,  it  is  con- 
cerning the  estate  of  my  Lord  of  Devonshire,  whereof  there  is  now  an  office 
to  be  founde,  a  jury  out  of  Northamptonshire  beeing  appointed  to  appeare 
to  that  purpose  in  the  Court  of  Wards  the  Thursday  next  after  Allhallowday, 
att  the  which  I  beseech  your  Lordship  be  pleased  to  afford  your  owne  pre- 
sence, not  that  we  feare  anything,  but  onely  because  in  a  matter  of  that 
importance  I  would  be  glad  we  mought  proceed  with  as  much  security  as 
may  be.  Another  request  I  have  to  make  to  your  Lordship,  which  is  that, 
whereas  the  day  appointed  for  the  apparence  of  this  Jury  is  the  5th  of  No- 
vember, which  day  is  consecrated  to  the  service  of  God  in  regard  of  his  mercy 
shewed  on  that  day  in  preserving  his  Majestic  and  all  the  estates  of  the 
realm,  and  therefore,  as  I  imagine  no  court  in  Westminster  will  then  sit, 
that  your  Lordship  would  be  pleased  to  put  it  off  until  the  Thursday  fol- 
lowinge,  which  will  be  the  1 2th  of  November,  before  which  time  I  purpose, 
God  willing,  to  wait  upon  your  Lordship,  being  myself  also  desirous  to  be 
there  at  such  tune  as  the  matter  shall  be  handled.  Thus  wishing  your  Lord- 
ship as  much  contentment  and  happiness  as  your  self  desier  I  rest 
Your  Lordship's  most  assuredly  to  do  you  service 

H.  SOUTHAMPTON. 

The  26th  of  Oct. 

P.S.  I  beseech  your  Lordship  if  at  any  time  you  chance  to  meet  with  my 
Lord  Chief  Justice  before  my  coming  up  make  him  see  that  you  take  this 
business  to  hart,  for  in  regard  of  the  sute  with  Champernonne,  which  de- 
pendeth  before  him,  his  favor  will  much  avayle  us,  whereof  though  I  nothing 
doute,  yet  I  assure  my  selfe,  when  he  shall  find  that  your  Lordship  affects 
it,  he  shall  be  much  the  more  forward  to  do  us  good  2. 

1  Cecil  Papers,  cxvm.  104. 
1  Ibid,  cxciv.  14. 


xx]  THE  FIFTH  OF  NOVEMBER  313 

The  Earl  of  Southampton  to  the  Earl  of  Salisbury: 

My  Lo.  I  heare  since  the  returne  of  my  brother  Arundell  that  hee  taketh 
the  marriage  of  his  sonn  much  worse  then  I  expected,  w**  makes  me  bould 
to  putt  your  Lo.  in  minde  of  my  request  unto  you,  that  you  would  bee 
pleased  to  use  some  part  of  your  auctority  w111  him  to  make  peace  between 
them.  I  perswed  myself  your  Lo.  doth  affect  it  &  I  am  assured  it  is  in  your 
power  to  bringe  it  to  pass :  I  doe  therefore  beseech  your  Lo.  to  bestow  some 
small  time  about  it,  seeing,  as  the  case  standes,  the  good  or  ill  fortune  of  the 
younge  man  (during  his  fathers  life)  dependeth  wholy  on  his  pleasure  &  I 
make  no  doute  but  little  paynes  will  bringe  it  to  a  good  effect.  Thus  recom- 
mendinge  &C.1 

This  letter  is  undated,  but  is  endorsed  "1606." 
The  commemoration  of  the  Gunpowder  Plot  was  duly  per- 
formed on  November  5th.  Nothing  very  special  took  place  at 
Court  until  Thomas  Campion's  masque  was  presented  at  Whitehall 
on  Twelfth  Night,  1606-7,  at  Lord  Hay's  marriage  with  the 
daughter  of  Lord  Denny. 

A  grant  reached  the  Earl  of  Southampton,  on  I4th  January, 
1607,  of  the  office  of  Keeper  of  the  New  Forest  for  life2. 

I  had  looked  in  every  place  I  could  think  of  for  the  record  of 
the  birth  of  his  second  son,  afterwards  his  heir,  and  I  could  not 
find  it.  Last  year  Mr  R.  F.  Scott,  Master  of  St  John's  College, 
Cambridge,  kindly  gave  it  me.  It  occurred  in  an  unexpected 
place — in  the  Register  of  Little  Shelford,  co.  Cambridge.  "1607. 
Thos  Wryosley  S.  Henry  and  Eliz.  Wroseley,  Erie  and  Countess 
of  Southampton,  baptized  2nd  April."  (See  the  volume  Ely  Epi- 
scopal Records  edited  by  Mr  A.  Gibbons,  p.  354.)  Why  the  Earl 
should  have  been  there,  it  seems  difficult  to  say.  Probably  it 
was  because  Shelford  Parva  was  but  9  miles  from  Royston,  so 
favoured  by  James,  who  liked  Southampton  as  a  hunting  companion. 
He  lived,  while  there,  in  a  house  built  by  Horatio  Pallavicino, 
with  a  fine  white  marble  portico  in  the  Italian  style.  That  his 
abode  there  was  no  flying  visit  may  be  proved.  The  same 
Register  records  the  burial  of  John  Cooke,  his  servant,  in  1608, 
and  of  another  servant,  Valentine  Metcalfe,  in  i6i53. 

1  Cecil  Papers,  cxix.  103. 

2  D.S.S.P.  James,  xxvi.  12.   Ind.  Wt.  Bk.  p.  56. 

3  British  Museum  Add.  MS.  5808,  vol.  vn.  f.  304. 


CHAPTER   XXI 

"SOME  TO  DISCOVER  ISLANDS  FAR  AWAY1" 

THE  call  of  the  sea  had  rung  in  Southampton's  ear  from  his  youth 
up.  Already  the  story  of  the  first  voyages  to  the  West  had  become 
invested  with  the  charms  of  tradition.  His  birth  was  nearly  coin- 
cident with  the  early  schemes  for  settlement,  in  which  his  own 
relatives  took  a  prominent  share.  His  chief  dwellings  were  by  the 
sea,  his  paths  were  on  the  sea.  His  title  was  taken  from  the  great 
southern  port  of  which  he  was  made  a  freeman  in  I59O-I2.  The 
expansion  of  the  earthly  horizon  westwards  stimulated  men's 
imaginations  to  poetic  flights;  the  circumnavigation  of  the  globe3 
taught  them  new  ideas  of  science  and  philosophy.  No  wonder 
that  Southampton's  interest  in  maritime  discovery  was  un- 
flagging. 

The  first  plan  for  a  settlement  on  the  continent  of  North  America 
seems  to  have  originated  with  Carleill  in  1574,  "to  discover 
sundry  rich  and  unknown  lands  fatally  reserved... for  England."4 
With  him  were  associated  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert,  Sir  George 
Peckham,  Sir  Richard  Grenville,  and  others5.  A  new  patent  was 
granted  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert,  his  heirs  and  assigns,  for  planting 
people  in  North  America  in  I5786.  In  1580  Sir  Thomas  Gerrard 
and  Sir  George  Peckham  presented  a  petition  that  Sir  Humphrey 
Gilbert  had  assigned  to  them  his  patent  for  discovering  heathen 
lands7.  Sir  Philip  Sidney  has  distinguished  himself  in  so  many  ways 
that  his  association  with  early  colonisation  schemes  has  been  over- 
looked. In  1581  he  had  a  "grant  of  thirty  hundred  thousand 
acres  of  ground  to  be  by  him  discovered  and  inhabited  in  certain 
parts  of  America  not  yet  discovered."  He  had  it  duly  enrolled  in 
Chancery8.  Of  this  he  personally  granted  30,000  acres  to  Sir 

1  Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona,  n.  3.  2  Corporation  Books,  in. 

3  Hakluyt,  ed.  Maclehose,  vn.  285.  4  D.S.S.P.  Eliz.  xcv.  63. 

6  Colonial  S.S.P.  Eliz.  i.  i.  «  Hakluyt,  vin.  34. 

7  Ibid.  vin.  40.  *  Close  Roll,  23  Eliz.  part  vn.  1153. 


CH.  xxi]  SOME  TO  DISCOVER  ISLANDS  FAR  AWAY  315 

George  Peckham,  of  Denham  in  Kent1.  Each  of  these  men  was 
called  by  Southampton  "cousin"  (though  not  in  the  first  degree2). 
Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert's  first  voyage  of  1583  was  unfortunate,  and 
he  lost  most  of  his  money.  But  he  planned  another  almost  immedi- 
ately. He  was  much  helped  both  in  advice  and  money  by  Sir 
George  Peckham.  Walter  Raleigh,  who  was  also  interested,  sent 
his  bark  Raleigh  to  join  his  stepbrother's  party,  but  the  sickness 
of  the  men  prevented  its  sailing  with  the  rest.  We  all  know  the 
tragic  end  of  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert  in  his  little  boat  in  the  storm. 
One  account  of  the  incident  was  written  by  Edward  Hayes  in 
the  Golden  Hind?  and  another  by  "Sir  George  Peckham,  the 
chief  adventurer  and  furtherer  of  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert's  voyage 
to  Newfoundland."4 

Raleigh  secured  a  new  patent  for  himself  on  25th  March,  1584, 
and  an  expedition  was  sent  out  by  him  in  the  following  month  under 
Captains  Philip  Amadas  and  Arthur  Barlow.  They  also  "took 
possession"  of  a  stretch  of  land,  but  returned  to  England  in  Septem- 
ber. In  the  following  April  a  second  fleet  was  sent  out  by  Raleigh 
under  his  cousin,  Sir  Richard  Grenville,  who  left  about  37°  N. 
a  colony  of  1 08  persons  under  Master  Ralph  Lane.  In  writing  home 
to  Walsingham  not  to  attend  to  Grenville's  complaints  of  certain 
gentlemen,  "because  his  intolerable  pride,  insatiable  ambition  and 
harsh  proceedings  to  all  made  him  no  fit  judge,"  Lane  said  he  had 
"already  discovered  rare  and  singular  commodities  in  the  Queen's 
new  Kingdom  of  Virginia."5  By  the  same  ship  he  wrote  to  Sir 
Philip  Sidney  as  his  "dear  friend,"  and  urged  him  not  to  lose  the 
chance  of  coming  out  to  the  place,  "You  only  being  fit  for  a  chief 
command  in  the  enterprise."6  Hakluyt  was  then  producing  his 
first  folio,  which  he  meant  to  dedicate  to  Sir  Philip  Sidney.  Fulke 
Greville,  his  friend,  and  he  had  drawn  up  by  1585  great  schemes 
of  conquest  and  colonization  in  that  Far  West  land  where  Sidney's 
acres  lay — Sidney  to  find  the  funds  and  Drake  to  assume  the  public 
responsibility.  They  both  knew  that  Elizabeth  would  not  grant 
them  permission  to  go  personally,  so  they  did  not  ask  for  it;  the 

1  D.S.S.P.  Eliz.  CLXI.  44. 

2  George  Peckham's  mother  was  sister  to  Southampton's  grandmother 
He  lost  so  heavily  that  in  later  years  he  appealed  to  Cecil  for  help. 

3  Hakluyt,  vm.  34.  *  Patent  Rolls,  6  Eliz.  I. 

5  Hakluvt,  vm.  319.  •  Colonial  S.S.P.  Eliz.  i.  3,  5. 


316     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

secret  was  a  delightful  but  dangerous  one  for  all  concerned.  Fulke 
Greville,  with  pardonable  pride,  records  how  Sidney  chose  him 
out  of  all  England,  "to  be  his  loving  and  beloved  Achates  in  this 
journey."1  They  stole  secretly  down  to  Plymouth,  where  Drake 
was  only  waiting  a  favourable  wind  to  start  on  one  of  his 
buccaneering  expeditions.  Someone  (possibly  Drake  himself)  gave 
information  at  Court.  A  royal  mandate  was  sent  to  stay  them.  Sir 
Philip,  with  some  disguised  soldiers,  stole  it  from  the  pursuivant, 
so  that  it  was  not  formally  delivered.  It  was,  however,  soon  con- 
firmed by  urgent  letters  conveyed  by  a  formidable  party.  The  wind 
was  too  late  in  changing,  Drake's  fleet  had  to  sail  without  them, 
and  the  two  youths  were  taken  back  to  Court,  where  Greville 
was  denied  the  foreign  travel  he  so  earnestly  desired,  and  Sidney 
was  allowed  to  go  to  his  uncle  in  the  Low  Countries,  there  to 
lose  his  life,  severed  from  his  friend.  Possibly,  had  they  had  their 
own  way,  the  whole  history  of  American  colonisation  would  have 
been  changed,  and  Sir  Philip  have  shown  the  fruition  of  his  riper 
manhood  to  the  world. 

Raleigh's  colony,  under  Lane,  had  many  troubles  that  year  and 
the  next2,  while  Sir  Francis  Drake  was  performing  wonderful 
exploits  against  the  Spaniards.  When  he  returned  homewards  north 
by  Raleigh's  colony,  the  tired  and  anxious  survivors  were  only  too 
glad  to  be  allowed  to  return  with  him  (igth  June,  1586).  They 
were  the  first  to  bring  home  tobacco.  Raleigh  had  sent  out  a  ship 
of  stores  for  the  colonists,  which  only  reached  37°  N.  after  they 
had  departed.  Sir  Richard  Grenville  also  went  to  visit  them,  but, 
finding  no  trace  of  them,  left  50  men  to  search  for  them.  In  1587 
Raleigh  made  another  attempt  to  colonize,  sending  out  a  party  of 
100  men  under  Captain  John  White,  to  found  a  city  and  call  it 
Raleigh.  But  their  supplies  failed;  White  came  home  for  more,  and 
a  small  fleet  was  prepared  to  go  to  their  help  in  1588,  when  the 
order  went  out  to  stay  all  ships  in  English  waters  for  defence  against 
the  Spaniards.  Through  the  strenuous  efforts  of  White  two  small 
ships  were  sent  off  full  of  provisions,  but  through  the  heavy  storms 

1  Greville's  Life  of  Sir  Philip  Sidney.  My  Shakespeare's  Warwickshire 
Contemporaries,  p.  167. 

*  Hakluyt,  vin.  345.  Purchas,  his  Pilgrims,  vol.  xvi.  Stith's  Virginia, 
p.  24  et  seq. 


xxi]  SOME  TO  DISCOVER  ISLANDS  FAR  AWAY  317 

they  became  so  damaged  that  they  were  forced  to  return.   Never- 
more did  the  sea  bring  back  news  of  that  colony. 

Raleigh  having  received  for  his  services  in  Ireland  a  great  reward 
out  of  the  lands  of  the  Earl  of  Desmond,  on  yth  March,  1588-9, 
passed  his  Virginia  patent  to  Sir  Thomas  Smith  and  Captain  John 
White.  They  sent  out  a  fleet  of  supplies  to  seek  the  colonists;  but 
they  had  completely  disappeared,  and  the  fleet  returned  on  24th 
October,  1590. 

Southampton  must  have  been  moved  also  by  the  ocean  career  of 
his  connection,  the  Earl  of  Cumberland 1.  He  had  been  among  the 
brave  spirits  who  winged  the  chase  of  the  Armada  until  it  was 
"scattered  by  the  breath  of  the  Lord."  His  voyages  in  quest  of  the 
Golden  Fleece  are  a  series  of  romances.  Probably  it  was  in  imitation 
of  him  that  young  Southampton  learned  to  wear  his  hair  long, 
unlike  the  fashion  at  Court.  The  Arundels  would  give  him  further 
food  for  interest,  and  the  voyage  of  the  Content  even  more. 
This  was  a  ship  of  Sir  George  Carey,  Lord  Hunsdon,  Governor 
of  the  Isle  of  Wight,  which,  with  other  two  small  ships,  held  a 
royal  and  satisfactory  fight,  from  seven  in  the  morning  till  sunset, 
with  six  Spanish  men-of-war  and  galleys  on  I3th  June,  I59I2. 

Hakluyt  also  prints  a  most  interesting  account  by  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh  of  "The  last  fight  of  the  'Revenge'"  on  3ist  August, 
1591.  Sir  Richard  Grenville  had  been  sent  by  the  Queen  to  inter- 
cept the  Spanish  Plate  fleet,  had  been  separated  from  his  com- 
panions, but  encountered  the  Spaniards,  and  defied  them  all,  alone 
amid  so  many.  He  would  never  have  yielded,  but  after  his  fatal 
wounds  his  men  surrendered.  This  narrative  is  certainly  the 
foundation  of  Gervase  Markham's  poem,  The  Honorable  Tragedy  of 
Sir  Richard  Grenville,  though  it  was  dedicated  not  to  Sir  Walter, 
but  to  a  rival3. 

Captain  Raymond's  excursion  to  the  East  and  West  Indies  is 
worth  noting,  as,  coming  homewards,  they  were  wrecked  on  the 
Bermudas,  where  the  survivors  stayed  five  months,  built  themselves 
a  boat,  and  escaped  in  I5924. 

Sir  Robert  Dudley,  son  of  the  Earl  of  Leicester,  after  an  ad- 
venturous journey  passed  the  Bermudas  in  1594;  and  his  captain, 

1  Purchas,  xvi.  5,  128.  z  Hakluyt,  x.  179. 

8  Ibid.  vii.  38.  *  Ibid.  vn.  194. 


3i8     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

Wyatt  gave  an  account  of  them 1.  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  when  in  the 
shadow  of  the  Queen's  wrath  for  his  misdoings  with  her  maid  of 
honour,  Elizabeth  Throckmorton,  paid  his  first  visit  to  America 
(not  in  the  northern  parts,  but  in  the  southern)  in  1 595.  The  fabled 
riches  of  Guiana  fired  his  imagination  and  stimulated  others  to 
help  him,  with  the  hope  of  regaining  the  Queen's  favour.  He 
published  the  story  of  his  adventures  with  a  descriptive  title,  The 
Discoverie  of  the  large,  rich,  and  beautiful  Empire  of  Guiana,  with 
the  relation  of  the  great  and  golden  city  of  Manoa  (which  the  Spaniards 
call  El  Dorado],  etc.,  undertaken,  as  he  said,  in  the  winter  of  his  life 
"so  as  to  appease  so  powerful  displeasure."2 

A  second  voyage  to  Guiana  was  described  by  Laurence  Keymis 
in  a  letter  to  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  who  had  subscribed  liberally 
towards  it.  A  third  voyage  to  Guiana,  set  forth  by  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh,  is  described  by  Thomas  Masham.  Sir  Walter  had  left  a 
servant  of  his,  Francis  Sparrey  (or  Sparrow)  by  name,  when  he 
was  over  there  himself  in  1595.  This  man  had  been  taken  by  the 
Spaniards,  but  after  long  imprisonment  had  escaped  and  returned 
to  England  in  1602. 

Meanwhile  the  last  voyage  of  Sir  Francis  Drake  and  Sir  John 
Hawkins  ended  (after  victorious  exploits)  in  Panama,  Hawkins 
dying  on  i2th  November,  1595,  Drake  on  28th  January, 
1 595-6  3. 

Southampton  had  at  last  got  on  shipboard,  meaning  to  go  with 
Essex  to  fight  the  Spaniard  at  Cadiz,  but  was  recalled  by  the 
Queen,  as  Sidney  and  Greville  had  been.  He  did  command  a  ship 
in  1597,  anc^  distinguished  himself.  Hakluyt's  volumes  came  out  in 
1589,  1598,  1599,  and  1600,  and  Southampton  must  have  read 
them.  William  Strachey  takes  up  the  story. 

Thus  Sir  W.  Raleigh,  weried  with  so  great  expense  and  abused  with  the 
unfaithfulness  of  the  ymployed,  after  he  had  sent  (as  you  maye  see  by  these 
fiue  several  tymes)  collonies  and  supplies  at  his  owne  charges,  and  nowe  at 
length  both  himself  and  his  successors  thus  betrayed,  he  was  even  nowe 
content  to  submit  the  fortune  of  the  poore  men's  lives  and  lief  of  the  holy 
accion  itself  into  the  favour  and  proteccion  of  the  God  of  all  mercy,  whose 
will  and  pleasure  he  submitted  unto  to  be  fulfilled,  as  in  all  things  ells,  so  in 
this  one  particular.  By  which  meanes,  for  seventeen  and  eighteen  years 

1  Hakluyt,  vii.  203.  *  Ibid.  x.  348,  441.  8  Ibid.  xn.  23,  66. 


xxi]  SOME  TO  DISCOVER  ISLANDS  FAR  AWAY  319 

together,  yt  lay  neglected,  untill  yt  pleased  God  at  length  to  move  againe 
the  heart  of  a  great  and  right  noble  earle  amongst  us, 

Candidus  et  talos  a  vertice  pulcher  ad  imos, 

Henry  Earle  of  Southampton,  to  take  yt  in  consideration,  and  seriously 
advise  how  to  recreate  and  dipp  yt  anew  into  spiritt  and  life;  who  therefore 
(yt  being  so  the  will  of  the  Et  email  Wisdome,  and  so  let  all  Christian  and 
Charitable  hearted  believe  in  compassion  to  this  people)  begun  to  make 
new  enquiries  and  much  scruteny  after  the  country  to  examyne  the  former 
proceedings,  together  with  the  lawfulnes  and  pious  end  thereof,  and  then, 
having  well  weighed  the  greatnes  and  goodnes  of  the  cause,  he  krdgely 
contributed  to  the  furnishing  out  of  a  shipp  to  be  commanded  by  Capt. 
Bartholomew  Gosnoll  and  Capt.  Bartholomew  Gilbert,  and  accompanyed 
with  divers  other  gentlemen,  to  discover  convenient  place  for  a  new  colony 
to  be  sent  thither,  who  accordingly  in  March,  anno  1602,  from  Falmouth 
in  a  bark  of  Dartmouth  called  the  Concord  sett  forward  holding  a  course 
for  the  north  parts  of  Virginia.  At  which  tyme,  likewise,  Sir  W.  Raleigh 
once  more  bought  a  bark,  and  hired  all  the  company... for  chief  Samuel  More 
...to  find  those  people  he  had  sent  thither... in  I5871. 

They  reached  34°  N.,  but  took  little  trouble  to  search,  preferring 
to  trade  with  the  natives  and  return  home. 

The  good  ship   the  Concord  setting  forth about  the  I4th  Maye 

following,  had  more  success. 

The  following  chapter2  tells  of  the  success  of  this  good  ship  "set 
forthe  by  the  Earl  of  Southampton."  It  made  land  about  43°  N., 
and  found  it  wonderfully  fertile.  The  voyagers  would  have  stayed 
as  a  colony;  but  they  wanted  to  sell  their  merchandise  at  home, 
and  returned  by  the  middle  of  July. 

Much  was  commended  the  diligence  and  relation  of  Captain  Gosnoll; 
howbeit  this  voyage  alone  could  not  satisfye  his  so  intent  a  spirit  and  ambition 
in  so  great  and  glorious  an  enterprise  as  his  Lordship  the  foresaid  Earle  of 
Southampton,  who  laboured  to  have  yt  so  beginne,  as  that  it  might  be  con- 
tinued with  all  due  and  prepared  circumstances  and  saffety.  and  therefore 
would  his  lordship  be  concurrent  the  second  tyme  in  a  new  survey  and  dis- 
patch to  be  made  thither  with  his  brother  in  law  Thomas  Arundell  Baron 
of  Wardour  who  prepared  a  ship  for  Captain  George  Waymouth3. 

1  Travailes  in  Virginia  by  William  Strachey,  Secretary  and  Recorder 
there,  book  n.  chap.  v.  p.  153. 
1  Ibid,  book  n.  chap.  vi.  p.  155. 
3  Ibid.  chap.  vii.  p.  158.   Sloane  MSS.  1622. 


320     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

He  also  found  rich  land  with  a  fair  river,  and  took  possession  of  it 
in  the  name  of  the  King. 

On  Weymouth's  return  his  good  report  joining  with  Captain  Gosnoll's 
cawsed  the  business  with  soe  prosperous  and  faire  starres  to  be  accompanied 
as  it  not  only  encouraged  the  said  Earle  (the  foresaid  Lord  Arundell  being 
by  this  tyme  changed  in  his  intendment  this  way,  and  engaged  to  the  Arch 
Duke...)  but  likewise  called  forth  many  firme  and  harty  lovers,  and  some 
long  affected  thereunto,  who  petitioned  the  King,  and  were  granted  a  patent 
on  the  tenth  of  April  1606. 

These  words  of  William  Strachey,  the  first  secretary  of  Virginia, 
are  all  the  more  necessary  to  be  inserted  here,  because  they  are  so 
little  known.  They  give  a  new  idea  of  the  relation  of  Southampton 
to  the  colonies,  he  being  made  the  figure-head  of  the  new  and 
abiding  work  of  the  seventeenth  century  and  Jacobean  settlement. 
Sixteenth  century  labours  had  been  fruitless,  nothing  was  left  of 
them  but  a  tradition,  some  experience,  and  the  name  "Virginia." 
To  that  James  added  "Britannica." 

There  is  no  doubt  that  Southampton  in  the  Tower  would  cheer 
himself  by  reading  Hakluyt's  new  edition  of  1600,  which  contained 
the  records  of  the  voyages  to  the  West.  Indeed,  it  seems  nearly 
certain  that  the  folio  volume  depicted  at  his  right  hand  in  the  por- 
trait of  him  taken  in  the  Tower  was  that  very  identical  volume. 
But  it  seems  surprising  that  Strachey  should  have  claimed  for  a 
prisoner1  the  active  energy  of  sending  forth  a  new  expedition.  The 
puzzle  is,  not  where  he  found  the  interest,  but  where  he  found  the 
money. 

Captain  Gosnoll  and  Captain  Weymouth  agreed  as  to  the  fertility 
and  desirability  of  the  Western  land.  The  former  had  struck  it 
about  43°  N.,  and  recorded  the  multitude  of  fish  about  Cape  Cod, 
the  multitude  of  vines  on  the  islands,  the  richness  of  the  soil,  and  the 
safety  of  the  harbours2.  Captain  Weymouth's  party  was  settled  after 
Southampton  was  free.  He  was  familiar  with  the  care  of  forests, 
the  qualities  of  soil;  he  understood  ships  and  the  management  of 
them;  he  had  made  himself  familiar  with  the  views  of  experienced 
captains  trading  in  all  parts  of  the  world;  he  had  the  power  of 
attracting  men  to  his  service  and  keeping  them  there.  Sooner  than 

1  See  also  Brown's  Genesis  of  the  United  States,  I.  26. 
*  Purchas,  xm.  302.  Brown's  Genesis,  p.  26. 


xxi]  SOME  TO  DISCOVER  ISLANDS  FAR  AWAY  321 

he  expected  it,  he  had  succeeded  to  the  government  of  the  Isle  of 
Wight,  in  reversion,  after  the  death  of  Lord  Hunsdon,  and  he  had 
the  command  of  money.  Exactly  five  days  after  the  christening  of 
his  first-born  son  James  at  Greenwich,  with  the  King  as  sponsor, 
on  26th  March,  1605,  he  would  be  seeing  off  this  second  great 
adventure.  James  Rosier,  a  servant  of  the  Arundels,  wrote  the 
account  of  the  voyage,  and  Purchas  gives  liberal  extracts  from  it1. 
The  Archangel  started  upon  Easter  Day,  the  last  of  March,  about 
5  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  from  the  Downs, 

being  well-victualled  and  furnished  with  munitions  and  all  necessaries,  our 
company  being  nine  and  twenty  persons,  of  whome  I  dare  boldly  say  few 
voyages  have  been  manned  forth  with  better  seamen  generally  in  respect  of 
our  small  number. 

They  drew  near  land  at  41  £°  N.  on  Monday,  I3th  May,  and  stood 
off  till  the  dawn  of  Saturday,  Whitsun  Eve,  when  they  took  shelter 
in  a  well-wooded  island  with  abundance  of  fruit  and  plentiful 
supplies  of  fowl  and  fish.  Some  canoes  of  savages  came  to  see  them 
from  the  east.  They  reached  a  fine  harbour  at  the  mouth  of  a  beauti- 
ful river,  whose  banks  were  fertile  and  fit  for  pasture. 

We  cannot  describe  the  worthiness  thereof,  the  abundant  utilitie  and 
sweet  pleasantness,  and  its  goodness  for  shipping... any  man  may  conceive 
with  what  admiration  we  all  consented  in  joy;  many  who  had  been  travellers 
in  sundry  countries,  and  in  the  most  famous  rivers,  yet  affirmed  them  not 
comparable  to  this  they  now  beheld.  Some  that  were  with  Sir  Walter  Raleigh 
in  his  voyage  to  Guiana,  in  the  discovery  of  the  river  Orinoco,  which  echoed 
fame  to  the  world's  ears,  gave  reason  why  it  was  not  to  be  compared  with 
this. 

There  was  no  sign  that  any  Christian  had  ever  been  on  that  shore; 
so  Captain  Weymouth  erected  a  cross,  and  took  possession  of  it  in 
the  name  of  King  James.  Many  of  the  men  wished  to  settle.  "We 
all  concluded  we  should  never  see  the  like  river  in  any  degree  equal, 
until  it  pleased  God  we  should  see  the  same  again."  The  captain 
reckoned  that  point,  sixty  miles  up  the  river,  as  43°  N.  One  would 
like  to  know  where  in  latitude  4i£°N.  they  had  first  seen  land, 
and  what  is  the  modern  name  of  that  unequalled  river.  They  were 
safely  back  in  Dartmouth  on  i8th  July,  1605.  Mr  Brown  says: 
"The  period  between  the  return  of  Weymouth  and  the  return 

1  Purchas,  xvni.  335.   Brown,  p.  27. 
s.  s.  21 


322     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

of  Dale,  June  1616,  was  the  period  of  the  First  Foundation."1 
Had  that  failed,  the  United  States  would  not  have  been  as  they 
are  to-day.  Mr  Brown  notes  a  very  mysterious  agreement  which 
no  one  else  records.  In  the  autumn  of  1605  Captain  Weymouth 
intended  to  make  a  merchant  voyage  back  to  Virginia,  but  was 
diverted  from  his  intention  by  a  more  ambitious  scheme.  An  agree- 
ment was  drawn  up  by  Sir  John  Zouch  of  Codnor,  in  the  County 
of  Derby,  and  Captain  George  Weymouth  of  Cockington,  Co. 
Devon,  that  Zouch  should  pay  the  expenses  of  two  vessels  fully 
fitted,  and  Weymouth  should  be  next  in  command  under  himself. 
Zouch  was  to  give  Weymouth  j£iOO  in  twenty-one  days  and  allow 
him  to  fulfil  his  agreement  with  certain  merchants  to  take  their 
shipments.  When  they  should  arrive  near  land,  Weymouth  was  to 
give  Sir  John  the  best  advice  he  could  as  to  a  settlement;  Sir  John 
was  to  choose  first  what  land  he  wanted,  and  Weymouth  was  to 
choose  second.  The  agreement  was  signed  by  four  witnesses,  one 
of  them  James  Rosier2.  But  nothing  more  is  known  as  to  this 
apparently  poaching  scheme.  Captain  Bartholomew  Gosnoll  had 
been  on  a  voyage  to  the  East  and  had  returned  to  London.  He  had 
much  admired  the  charms  of  Virginia  and  bestirred  himself  now 
to  return.  He  prevailed  on  Edward  Wingfield,  Captain  John 
Smith,  and  a  few  others  to  assist  his  efforts.  Six  months  after  the 
return  of  the  Archangel,  the  Privy  Council  instructed  Lord  Chief 
Justice  Popham  and  Sir  John  Herbert  to  call  together  those 
they  thought  fit  and  confer  about  the  plantation  of  Virginia3,  and 
they  record  the  Patent  of  10th  April,  i6o64,  not  for  one  company 
only,  that  of  London,  but  for  a  second  for  the  Merchant  Adventurers 
of  Plymouth  and  the  western  ports. 

The  first  colony  was  to  be  at  some  convenient  spot  between  3 1  °  N. 
and  41°  N.,  the  second  colony  to  be  formed  at  least  100  miles  north 
of  the  first.  The  chiefs  of  the  first  company  were  Sir  Thomas 
Gates,  George  Somers,  Dr  Richard  Hakluyt,  Thomas  Harman, 
Rawly  Gilbert,  William  Parker,  and  George  Popham.  The 
King's  Colonial  Council  included  Sir  Walter  Cope,  Sir  Ferdinando 

1  Brown's  Genesis,  i.  33.  2  Ibid.  33-64,  75-95- 

3  Privy  Council  Register. 

4  Colonial  Entry  Book,  LXXIX.  1-12.    Purchas,  xvin.  400-459.    Patent 
Roll,  4  James  I,  part  19,  No.  1709. 


xxi]  SOME  TO  DISCOVER  ISLANDS  FAR  AWAY  323 

Gorges,  Sir  George  More,  Sir  Henry  Neville,  Sir  Fulke  Greville, 
Sir  Edwin  Sandys,  and  Sir  Thomas  Roe. 

The  literature  of  the  time,  in  so  far  as  it  reflects  the  progress  of 
western  discovery,  is  not  abundant.  Daniel  in  1 603,  in  Musophilus, 
alludes  to  the  "  unformed  Occident."  The  satirical  play  EastwardHoe, 
1 605,  brought  Chapman,  Marston,and  even  Benjonson  into  trouble. 
They  were  imprisoned,  with  a  threat  of  having  their  ears  cut  off. 
Some  said  it  was  because  the  play  was  supposed  to  throw  scorn  on  the 
Scotch  as  a  nation;  others,  that  it  was  because  of  the  mockery  of  great 
men  at  Court  in  their  schemes  of  adventure,  discovery,  and  colonisa- 
tion. Southampton  may  have  been  marked  as  one  of  these.  SirPetronel 
Flask  says:  "  I  am  sorrie  (by  reason  of  my  instant  haste  to  so  long  a 
voyage  as  Virginia)  I  am  without  means  by  any  kind  amends  to  shew 
how  affectionately  I  take  your  kindness." l  Quicksilver  says  of  him: 
"All  he  could  any  wise  get  he  bestowed  on  a  ship  bound  for  Vir- 
ginia."2 Captain  Sea  Gull  gives  a  description  of  Virginia:  "Wild 
Boar  is  common  there,  as  tame  Bacon  with  us,  and  gold  commoner 
than  copper."  The  Earl  of  Southampton  and  his  brother-in-law 
were  then  known  to  be  fitting  out  the  Archangel',  the  four 
falcons  of  Southampton's  arms  have  even  been  described  by  some 
heralds  as  sea-gulls;  and  Captain  Sea  Gull  is  possibly  a  satire  on 
Gosnoll  or  Weymouth.  It  is  possible  that  Ben  Jonson's  share  was 
limited  to  the  chaffing  of  his  rivals,  a  habit  rather  encouraged  at 
Court.  The  Spanish  Tragedy  is  quoted;  "Hamlet"  is  the  name 
given  to  Lady  Flash's  footman3.  Her  sister's  marriage  was  hastened 
"That  the  cold  meats  left  at  your  wedding  might  serve  to  furnish 
the  nuptial  tables,"  and  she  herself  sings  Ophelia's  ballad,  "His 
head  as  white  as  milk,  all  flaxen  was  his  haire."  Ben  Jonson  implies 
that  he  voluntarily  shared  his  friends'  imprisonment;  but  he  wrote 
a  very  humble  appeal  to  Salisbury  to  work  his  pardon  and  deliver- 
ance, assuring  him  that  all  the  objectionable  parts  had  been  put  in 
by  the  players  themselves.  After  due  delay  they  seem  to  have  been 
delivered  without  further  punishment4. 

A  very  different  spirit  inspired  Drayton's  Ode,  published  in  a 
small  octavo  volume,  undated,  but  about  that  time.  Drayton  must 
have  read  Rosier's  account  of  Weymouth's  voyage;  so  it  could  not 

1  Eastward  Hoe,  in.  i.  2  Ibid.  i.  i. 

»  Ibid.  in.  2.  *  Cecil  Papers. 


324     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [en. 

have  been  written  before  1605,  and,  as  it  addresses  those  about  to- 
start,  it  could  not  have  been  written  after  1606.  In  the  1619 
edition  it  is  the  1 1  th  poem,  Ode  to  the  Virginian  Voyage. 

You  brave  heroique  minds 
Worthy  your  country's  name. 

Captain  Christopher  Newport  was  in  charge  of  the  transport  of 
the  colony,  and  the  fleet  left  London  on  2Oth  December,  1606. 
Contrary  winds  made  it  the  5th  of  January  before  they  put  out,  to 
sail  by  the  Canaries,  then  the  customary  route  to  Virginia1.  On 
April  the  26th  they  sighted  the  Chesapian  Bay,  where  they  meant 
to  settle.  The  story  of  the  settlement  is  one  of  trouble  and  difficulty 
caused  by  discord,  chiefly  arising  from  lack  of  discipline.  Too 
many  undesirables  had  been  shipped  over  to  get  rid  of  them,  ignorant 
of  any  useful  industry.  Everything  being  considered  common 
property,  these  were  not  ashamed  to  eat  what  they  had  not  earned. 
They  had  at  first  chosen  an  unhealthy  site.  Many  died.  "On  the 
2Oth  August,  1607,  died  Kenelm  Throgmorton;  on  the  22nd  died 
Captain  Bartholomew  Gosnold,  both  honourably  buried."  Starva- 
tion came.  "If  God  had  not  put  terror  in  our  enemies'  hearts,  and 
also  pity  to  bring  us  provisions,  we  should  all  have  died."  The 
labours  of  thirty  of  the  best  sustained  the  lives  of  nearly  200  of  the 
others.  These  deserved  well;  but  out  of  the  chaos  arises  only  one 
grand  heroic  figure,  that  of  Captain  John  Smith,  who  possessed  all 
the  qualities  necessary  to  make  a  successful  settler.  He  taught  them 
to  dig,  to  build  a  fort,  to  fashion  boats,  to  barter  with  the  natives. 
He  always  took  the  difficult  jobs  himself,  travelling  through  the 
neighbourhood  to  see  how  the  land  lay,  to  learn  the  language,  to 
make  treaties  with  the  tribes.  More  than  once  he  was  nearly  slain, 
and  he  was  only  saved  by  the  courage  of  Pocahontas,  the  favourite 
daughter  of  the  wily  King  Powhatan.  On  his  life  and  fortunes  hung 
the  fates  of  many.  But  jealousies  against  him  prevailed,  and  at  last  a 
cruel  accident  forced  him  to  return.  The  second  company  sent  out, 
on  May  3ist,  1607,  an  expedition  under  Captain  George  Popham, 
President;  Captain  Rawly  Gilbert,  Admiral;  and  Captain  Edward 
Harlow,  Master  of  the  Ordnance.  They  began  ambitiously,  but  the 
weather  was  against  them,  and  they  returned  to  England  on  the 

1  Purchas,  xvui.  459.  Papers  of  Captain  John  Smith,  principal  agent 
and  "patient"  in  Virginia. 


xxi]  SOME  TO  DISCOVER  ISLANDS  FAR  AWAY  325 

death  of  Sir  John  Popham,  their  President's  father,  in  1608.  Not- 
withstanding the  failure  of  the  second  colony,  the  Earl  of  Southamp- 
ton and  his  friends  of  the  Isle  of  Wight  employed  Captain  Edward 
Harlow  to  make  another  voyage  of  discovery  and  investigate  the 
islands  about  Cape  Cod,  which  Captain  Weymouth  found.  The 
natives  of  the  district  called  Aggawam  treated  the  explorers  kindly, 
and  Aggawam  was  renamed  Southampton  by  Prince  Charles.  The 
disorders  in  the  first  colony  increased;  everyone  who  came  home 
told  his  own  tale  to  screen  himself.  The  Council  read  everything 
through  a  mist  of  lies.  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges  wrote  to  Salisbury 
on  yth  February,  1607-8:  "Our  second  ship  has  returned.... The 

people  have  split  up  into  factions  and  disgraced  each  other We 

shall  have  much  ado  to  go  forward  as  we  ought.  For  my  own  part, 
I  should  be  proud  if  I  might  be  thought  worthy  to  be  the  man 
commanded  to  the  accomplishment  thereof."1  His  offer  was  not 
accepted. 

The  King  granted  a  new  charter  on  the  23rd  of  May,  i6o92, 
abrogating  the  old,  extending  the  bounds  and  the  privileges  of  the 
colony,  and  forming  a  new  London  Company,  which  included 
some  of  the  higher  nobility — the  Earls  of  Salisbury,  Suffolk,  South- 
ampton, Pembroke,  Lord  Sheffield,  and  others.  Sir  Thomas  Smith 
remained  treasurer.  Among  the  members  were  William  Crashaw, 
clerk,  B.D.,  and  Raleigh  Crashaw. 

This  new  company  on  the  2Qth  of  May  invited  the  Englishmen 
resident  in  the  Low  Countries  to  join.  The  letter  was  signed  by 
Southampton,  Pembroke,  Lord  Lisle,  Lord  De  la  Warre,  etc. 
These  names  attracted  so  many  subscribers  that  they  began 
preparing  their  fleet  in  that  same  month.  The  government  was 
intrusted  to  Lord  De  la  Warre,  who  sent  Sir  Thomas  Gates  as  his 
deputy,  Sir  George  Somers  as  Admiral,  and  Captain  Newport  as 
Vice-Admiral.  The  King  insisted  that  each  of  these  should  be 
furnished  with  his  new  commission,  and  whoever  should  reach  the 
colony  first  should  read  it  to  the  inhabitants,  and  take  order  there- 
upon. Some  question  of  priority  having  roused  jealousy  among  the 
three  leaders,  they  agreed  all  to  go  in  the  Admiral's  ship,  the  Sea- 

1  Cecil  Papers,  cxx.  66. 

2  Colonial  Papers,  I.   17.    Colonial  Entry  Book,  vol.  I.  xxxix.  49,  728. 
Patent  Roll,  7  James  I,  pt.  8,  23rd  May.   Brown's  Genesis,  229. 


326     THE  THIRD  EARL  OF  SOUTHAMPTON     [CH. 

Adventure,  with  150  men.  There  were  eight  ships  and  a  small 
pinnace,  the  number  of  men  in  all  being  500.  They  became 
separated  from  each  other  in  a  great  storm.  Seven  of  the  ships 
arrived  in  Virginia  by  the  nth  of  August,  but  the  Admiral's  ship  and 
the  pinnace  were  missing,  and  therefore  there  was  no  new  governor 
appointed. 

Captain  John  Smith,  the  only  survivor  of  the  original  Council, 
had  been  acting  as  president,  but,  meeting  with  nothing  but  con- 
tempt, he  had  sailed  for  England  after  his  serious  wound,  leaving 
George  Percy  president  in  his  stead1.  He  left  "four  hundred 
and  ninety  odd  men,  three  ships,  seven  boats,  commodities  for  ten 
weeks'  provision,  corn  newly  gathered,  hogs,  chickens,  goats,  sheep, 
ammunition,  tools,  nets,  and  necessaries  sufficient."  His  greatest 
maligners  soon  cursed  his  loss.  The  Indians  had  no  respect  for 
any  other  man  among  them,  they  boldly  stole,  and  cut  off  all 
stragglers  from  the  camp.  Fear  kept  even  the  industrious  from 
hunting,  fishing  or  planting.  George  Percy  was  far  from  well. 
In  six  months  they  had  reached  their  "starving  time."  By  the 
time  the  ships  arrived,  their  numbers  had  been  reduced  from  500 
to  60. 

And  the  Council  at  London  went  on  hopefully,  knowing  nothing 
of  all  this  woe. 

The  postscript  of  a  letter  written  by  Southampton  to